Ben Tappin
@benmtappin.bsky.social
• Assistant professor, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Persuasion, technology, experiments
• benmtappin.com
• Persuasion, technology, experiments
• benmtappin.com
Pinned
Ben Tappin
@benmtappin.bsky.social
· Jul 21
Today (w/ @ox.ac.uk @stanford @MIT @LSE) we’re sharing the results of the largest AI persuasion experiments to date: 76k participants, 19 LLMs, 707 political issues.
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
👇New experiments in which we aimed to map the levers and scope of political persuasion with conversational AI models.
It was a tremendous privilege to lead on this work alongside the brilliant @kobihackenburg.bsky.social. The paper is packed with results and we'd love your comments!
It was a tremendous privilege to lead on this work alongside the brilliant @kobihackenburg.bsky.social. The paper is packed with results and we'd love your comments!
Reposted by Ben Tappin
🚨New WP "@Grok is this true?"
We analyze 1.6M factcheck requests on X (grok & Perplexity)
📌Usage is polarized, Grok users more likely to be Reps
📌BUT Rep posts rated as false more often—even by Grok
📌Bot agreement with factchecks is OK but not great; APIs match fact-checkers
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We analyze 1.6M factcheck requests on X (grok & Perplexity)
📌Usage is polarized, Grok users more likely to be Reps
📌BUT Rep posts rated as false more often—even by Grok
📌Bot agreement with factchecks is OK but not great; APIs match fact-checkers
osf.io/preprints/ps...
February 3, 2026 at 9:55 PM
🚨New WP "@Grok is this true?"
We analyze 1.6M factcheck requests on X (grok & Perplexity)
📌Usage is polarized, Grok users more likely to be Reps
📌BUT Rep posts rated as false more often—even by Grok
📌Bot agreement with factchecks is OK but not great; APIs match fact-checkers
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We analyze 1.6M factcheck requests on X (grok & Perplexity)
📌Usage is polarized, Grok users more likely to be Reps
📌BUT Rep posts rated as false more often—even by Grok
📌Bot agreement with factchecks is OK but not great; APIs match fact-checkers
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Ben Tappin
My Centre is a unique place to do a PhD in Philosophy, because you can be in constant contact with experts in veterinary medicine, psychology, zoology and policy and be part of a team united by a shared interest in animal minds. We now have our 1st ever PhD scholarship: www.lse.ac.uk/sentience/phd
PhD Scholarship
www.lse.ac.uk
January 30, 2026 at 7:39 AM
My Centre is a unique place to do a PhD in Philosophy, because you can be in constant contact with experts in veterinary medicine, psychology, zoology and policy and be part of a team united by a shared interest in animal minds. We now have our 1st ever PhD scholarship: www.lse.ac.uk/sentience/phd
Reposted by Ben Tappin
📢 JOB ALERT! Postdoc opportunity in Political Behaviour & Political Economy (UKRI‑funded) - Please do share with anyone who might be a great fit. If you’re interested or would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch!! jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Quantitative Political Behaviour and Political Economy:Whiteknights Reading UK
The closing date for applications is 23.59 on 22nd February 2026
jobs.reading.ac.uk
January 26, 2026 at 4:37 PM
📢 JOB ALERT! Postdoc opportunity in Political Behaviour & Political Economy (UKRI‑funded) - Please do share with anyone who might be a great fit. If you’re interested or would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch!! jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Reposted by Ben Tappin
🎺 Call for proposals 🎺
1️⃣ replicate an existing experiment
2️⃣ run a novel experiment
on repdata.com
3️⃣ coauthor with Mary McGrath and me to meta-analyze the replications and existing studies
4️⃣ publish your study
details: alexandercoppock.com/replication_...
applications open Feb 1
please repost!
1️⃣ replicate an existing experiment
2️⃣ run a novel experiment
on repdata.com
3️⃣ coauthor with Mary McGrath and me to meta-analyze the replications and existing studies
4️⃣ publish your study
details: alexandercoppock.com/replication_...
applications open Feb 1
please repost!
January 27, 2026 at 10:16 PM
🎺 Call for proposals 🎺
1️⃣ replicate an existing experiment
2️⃣ run a novel experiment
on repdata.com
3️⃣ coauthor with Mary McGrath and me to meta-analyze the replications and existing studies
4️⃣ publish your study
details: alexandercoppock.com/replication_...
applications open Feb 1
please repost!
1️⃣ replicate an existing experiment
2️⃣ run a novel experiment
on repdata.com
3️⃣ coauthor with Mary McGrath and me to meta-analyze the replications and existing studies
4️⃣ publish your study
details: alexandercoppock.com/replication_...
applications open Feb 1
please repost!
I land somewhere between this and the OP. Evaluating the quality of the methods often requires fully understanding the research question and estimand. And that usually requires reading the intro. (Disclaimer: but even then it’s no guarantee😭 cf. www.the100.ci/2024/08/27/l... @dingdingpeng.the100.ci)
I feel very conflicted about this advice: Can you skip parts of papers? Yes! Reading intro+disc first, and methods only optionally, is completely wrong though. IMHO, intro+disc are often lazy world building. Instead, read the methods first to decide whether the rest is even worth looking at.
Even in the AI era, learning to quickly "read" an academic article is an essential skill.
When I started grad school, I thought I had to read every word, in order, for every article I "read".
I don’t do that anymore.
Here’s how I "read" most academic articles:
When I started grad school, I thought I had to read every word, in order, for every article I "read".
I don’t do that anymore.
Here’s how I "read" most academic articles:
January 26, 2026 at 7:57 PM
I land somewhere between this and the OP. Evaluating the quality of the methods often requires fully understanding the research question and estimand. And that usually requires reading the intro. (Disclaimer: but even then it’s no guarantee😭 cf. www.the100.ci/2024/08/27/l... @dingdingpeng.the100.ci)
My students are in for a treat next week
January 16, 2026 at 2:36 PM
My students are in for a treat next week
Reposted by Ben Tappin
A very interesting data-rich analysis of persuasion on digital media by @benmtappin.bsky.social. Recommend!
open.substack.com/pub/benmtapp...
open.substack.com/pub/benmtapp...
For Digital Mass Persuasion, Exposure Matters More Than Persuasiveness
If you are interested in understanding the mass persuasive impact of digital media content you should generally pay more attention to content exposure than to its persuasiveness.
open.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:08 PM
A very interesting data-rich analysis of persuasion on digital media by @benmtappin.bsky.social. Recommend!
open.substack.com/pub/benmtapp...
open.substack.com/pub/benmtapp...
Reposted by Ben Tappin
🚨 New in Nature+Science!🚨
AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp
🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK
🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks)
🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy
🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate
AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp
🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK
🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks)
🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy
🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate
December 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
🚨 New in Nature+Science!🚨
AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp
🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK
🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks)
🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy
🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate
AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp
🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK
🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks)
🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy
🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate
Reposted by Ben Tappin
🚨 New working paper 🚨
We often see populist parties like Reform UK blame higher energy bills on climate change policies. What are the political consequences of this strategy?
Very early draft; comments and criticisms are welcomed!
full draft: z-dickson.github.io/assets/dicks...
We often see populist parties like Reform UK blame higher energy bills on climate change policies. What are the political consequences of this strategy?
Very early draft; comments and criticisms are welcomed!
full draft: z-dickson.github.io/assets/dicks...
November 18, 2025 at 3:39 PM
🚨 New working paper 🚨
We often see populist parties like Reform UK blame higher energy bills on climate change policies. What are the political consequences of this strategy?
Very early draft; comments and criticisms are welcomed!
full draft: z-dickson.github.io/assets/dicks...
We often see populist parties like Reform UK blame higher energy bills on climate change policies. What are the political consequences of this strategy?
Very early draft; comments and criticisms are welcomed!
full draft: z-dickson.github.io/assets/dicks...
Reposted by Ben Tappin
"While testing one dimension at a time can yield simple results, those effects may not generalise to richer, real-world contexts."
Read our new POAL Methods Briefs on Conjoint Experiments from Thomas Robinson!
Link: www.poal.co.uk/research/met...
Read our new POAL Methods Briefs on Conjoint Experiments from Thomas Robinson!
Link: www.poal.co.uk/research/met...
Public Opinion Analytics Lab
The website of the Public Opinion Analytics Lab
www.poal.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:47 AM
"While testing one dimension at a time can yield simple results, those effects may not generalise to richer, real-world contexts."
Read our new POAL Methods Briefs on Conjoint Experiments from Thomas Robinson!
Link: www.poal.co.uk/research/met...
Read our new POAL Methods Briefs on Conjoint Experiments from Thomas Robinson!
Link: www.poal.co.uk/research/met...
Insightful long-read:
"With AGI [artificial general intelligence], powerful actors will lose their incentive to invest in regular people–just as resource-rich states today neglect their citizens because their wealth comes from natural resources rather than taxing human labor."
intelligence-curse.ai
"With AGI [artificial general intelligence], powerful actors will lose their incentive to invest in regular people–just as resource-rich states today neglect their citizens because their wealth comes from natural resources rather than taxing human labor."
intelligence-curse.ai
The Intelligence Curse
This series examines the incoming crisis of human irrelevance and provides a map towards a future where people remain the masters of their destiny.
intelligence-curse.ai
October 12, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Insightful long-read:
"With AGI [artificial general intelligence], powerful actors will lose their incentive to invest in regular people–just as resource-rich states today neglect their citizens because their wealth comes from natural resources rather than taxing human labor."
intelligence-curse.ai
"With AGI [artificial general intelligence], powerful actors will lose their incentive to invest in regular people–just as resource-rich states today neglect their citizens because their wealth comes from natural resources rather than taxing human labor."
intelligence-curse.ai
Reposted by Ben Tappin
🗞️ 🤖 Weekend reading anyone? For the launch of @transformernews.ai as a standalone publication, they invited me to contribute a piece on what persuasive AI might mean for democracy and elections.
Here’s the result…
buff.ly/OJsNmpK
Here’s the result…
buff.ly/OJsNmpK
AI is persuasive, but that’s not the real problem for democracy
Opinion: Felix M Simon argues that AI is unlikely to significantly shape election results in the near future, but warns that it could damage democracy through a steady erosion of institutional trust.
www.transformernews.ai
October 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
🗞️ 🤖 Weekend reading anyone? For the launch of @transformernews.ai as a standalone publication, they invited me to contribute a piece on what persuasive AI might mean for democracy and elections.
Here’s the result…
buff.ly/OJsNmpK
Here’s the result…
buff.ly/OJsNmpK
Reposted by Ben Tappin
WE ARE HIRING! 2 Lecturers in Quantitative Social Science. Want a friendly interdisciplinary department in one of the world's most vibrant cities? This just might be for you.
Apply by: 10 Oct
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Apply by: 10 Oct
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
September 1, 2025 at 1:59 PM
WE ARE HIRING! 2 Lecturers in Quantitative Social Science. Want a friendly interdisciplinary department in one of the world's most vibrant cities? This just might be for you.
Apply by: 10 Oct
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Apply by: 10 Oct
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Ben Tappin
Wrote about how the UK's online age verification requirements are already proving to be a disaster (as UK regulators were clearly warned it would be) and how unhelpful the UK's response to this mess has been, including their tech minister saying anyone who complains supports predators.
Didn’t Take Long To Reveal The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About
Well, well, well. The “age assurance” part of the UK's Online Safety Act has finally gone into effect, with its age checking requirements kicking in a week and a half ago. And what…
Well, well, well. The “age assurance” part of the UK's Online Safety Act has finally gone into effect, with its age checking requirements kicking in a week and a half ago. And what…
Didn’t Take Long To Reveal The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About
Well, well, well. The “age assurance” part of the UK's Online Safety Act has finally gone into effect, with its age checking requirements kicking in a week and a half ago. And what do you know? It's turned out to be exactly the privacy-invading, freedom-crushing, technically unworkable disaster that everyone with half a brain predicted it would be. Let's start with the most obvious sign that this law is working exactly as poorly as critics warned: …
www.techdirt.com
August 5, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Wrote about how the UK's online age verification requirements are already proving to be a disaster (as UK regulators were clearly warned it would be) and how unhelpful the UK's response to this mess has been, including their tech minister saying anyone who complains supports predators.
Reposted by Ben Tappin
The largest investigation of AI persuasion with 76,977 participants across 3 large-scale experiments. Excellent work by @ox.ac.uk PhD candidate @kobihackenburg.bsky.social.
19 LLMs. 707 political issues. 466,769 fact-checkable claims evaluated.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.13919
#AcademicSky #MLSky #PhDSky
19 LLMs. 707 political issues. 466,769 fact-checkable claims evaluated.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.13919
#AcademicSky #MLSky #PhDSky
July 24, 2025 at 7:56 PM
The largest investigation of AI persuasion with 76,977 participants across 3 large-scale experiments. Excellent work by @ox.ac.uk PhD candidate @kobihackenburg.bsky.social.
19 LLMs. 707 political issues. 466,769 fact-checkable claims evaluated.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.13919
#AcademicSky #MLSky #PhDSky
19 LLMs. 707 political issues. 466,769 fact-checkable claims evaluated.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.13919
#AcademicSky #MLSky #PhDSky
Reposted by Ben Tappin
I am so proud of the brilliant @oii.ox.ac.uk DPhil @kobihackenburg.bsky.social and this wonderful “bees-knees” paper on conversational AI and political persuasion @AISecurityInst - it is a “must-read”, comments welcome!
Today (w/ @ox.ac.uk @stanford @MIT @LSE) we’re sharing the results of the largest AI persuasion experiments to date: 76k participants, 19 LLMs, 707 political issues.
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
July 22, 2025 at 7:54 AM
I am so proud of the brilliant @oii.ox.ac.uk DPhil @kobihackenburg.bsky.social and this wonderful “bees-knees” paper on conversational AI and political persuasion @AISecurityInst - it is a “must-read”, comments welcome!
A great post, this point especially:
"I don’t mean to argue all research needs to be slow and fully documented. When we are just starting in a new area, it’s chaos. But at some point, by the time results are reported, the workflow needs to be professionalized. Research is not a hobby. It’s a job."
"I don’t mean to argue all research needs to be slow and fully documented. When we are just starting in a new area, it’s chaos. But at some point, by the time results are reported, the workflow needs to be professionalized. Research is not a hobby. It’s a job."
How can we reform science? I have some ideas. But I am not sure you’ll like them, because they don’t promise much. elevanth.org/blog/2025/07...
Which Kind of Science Reform
What hope is there for science reform, if we can't agree on what to reform? Right now, principles are more important than practices.
elevanth.org
July 22, 2025 at 8:20 AM
A great post, this point especially:
"I don’t mean to argue all research needs to be slow and fully documented. When we are just starting in a new area, it’s chaos. But at some point, by the time results are reported, the workflow needs to be professionalized. Research is not a hobby. It’s a job."
"I don’t mean to argue all research needs to be slow and fully documented. When we are just starting in a new area, it’s chaos. But at some point, by the time results are reported, the workflow needs to be professionalized. Research is not a hobby. It’s a job."
Reposted by Ben Tappin
VERY excited about this massive AI persuasion experiment - big effects on UK policy positions, driven mostly by post-training (rather than hyperpersonalization or model scale); and the more info the model provides, the more persuasive it is
Today (w/ @ox.ac.uk @stanford @MIT @LSE) we’re sharing the results of the largest AI persuasion experiments to date: 76k participants, 19 LLMs, 707 political issues.
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
July 21, 2025 at 4:44 PM
VERY excited about this massive AI persuasion experiment - big effects on UK policy positions, driven mostly by post-training (rather than hyperpersonalization or model scale); and the more info the model provides, the more persuasive it is
Reposted by Ben Tappin
Exciting new research by @benmtappin.bsky.social and colleagues ⬇️
Today (w/ @ox.ac.uk @stanford @MIT @LSE) we’re sharing the results of the largest AI persuasion experiments to date: 76k participants, 19 LLMs, 707 political issues.
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
July 21, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Exciting new research by @benmtappin.bsky.social and colleagues ⬇️
👇New experiments in which we aimed to map the levers and scope of political persuasion with conversational AI models.
It was a tremendous privilege to lead on this work alongside the brilliant @kobihackenburg.bsky.social. The paper is packed with results and we'd love your comments!
It was a tremendous privilege to lead on this work alongside the brilliant @kobihackenburg.bsky.social. The paper is packed with results and we'd love your comments!
Today (w/ @ox.ac.uk @stanford @MIT @LSE) we’re sharing the results of the largest AI persuasion experiments to date: 76k participants, 19 LLMs, 707 political issues.
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
We examine “levers” of AI persuasion: model scale, post-training, prompting, personalization, & more!
🧵:
July 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
👇New experiments in which we aimed to map the levers and scope of political persuasion with conversational AI models.
It was a tremendous privilege to lead on this work alongside the brilliant @kobihackenburg.bsky.social. The paper is packed with results and we'd love your comments!
It was a tremendous privilege to lead on this work alongside the brilliant @kobihackenburg.bsky.social. The paper is packed with results and we'd love your comments!
Have now read this paper in detail. It’s a tour de force. If you’re interested in the potential impact of AI on election outcomes you should put it by your bedside. Key takeaway: let’s remain alive to, but healthily skeptical of, the possibility of large impacts: knightcolumbia.org/content/dont...
July 20, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Have now read this paper in detail. It’s a tour de force. If you’re interested in the potential impact of AI on election outcomes you should put it by your bedside. Key takeaway: let’s remain alive to, but healthily skeptical of, the possibility of large impacts: knightcolumbia.org/content/dont...
Reposted by Ben Tappin
New paper in PSPB! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Well, actually, not "new". We first put this paper online way back Dec 2022... in any case, we think it's really cool!
We find that conspiracy believers tend to be overconfident & really don't seem to realize that most disagree with them
Well, actually, not "new". We first put this paper online way back Dec 2022... in any case, we think it's really cool!
We find that conspiracy believers tend to be overconfident & really don't seem to realize that most disagree with them
May 29, 2025 at 5:18 PM
New paper in PSPB! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Well, actually, not "new". We first put this paper online way back Dec 2022... in any case, we think it's really cool!
We find that conspiracy believers tend to be overconfident & really don't seem to realize that most disagree with them
Well, actually, not "new". We first put this paper online way back Dec 2022... in any case, we think it's really cool!
We find that conspiracy believers tend to be overconfident & really don't seem to realize that most disagree with them
Reposted by Ben Tappin
New Substack post
It's very personal: my story of a 20-year academic career, and the many challenges of theoretical and cross-disciplinary work
As I put it in the subtitle: There is a lot of success and a lot of pain here, and no happy ending
thomscottphillips.substack.com/p/happy-in-t...
It's very personal: my story of a 20-year academic career, and the many challenges of theoretical and cross-disciplinary work
As I put it in the subtitle: There is a lot of success and a lot of pain here, and no happy ending
thomscottphillips.substack.com/p/happy-in-t...
Happy In Theory
This is the short story of my long, 20 year search for a stable academic home. There is a lot of success and a lot of pain here, and no happy ending.
thomscottphillips.substack.com
May 23, 2025 at 9:28 AM
New Substack post
It's very personal: my story of a 20-year academic career, and the many challenges of theoretical and cross-disciplinary work
As I put it in the subtitle: There is a lot of success and a lot of pain here, and no happy ending
thomscottphillips.substack.com/p/happy-in-t...
It's very personal: my story of a 20-year academic career, and the many challenges of theoretical and cross-disciplinary work
As I put it in the subtitle: There is a lot of success and a lot of pain here, and no happy ending
thomscottphillips.substack.com/p/happy-in-t...
Reposted by Ben Tappin
I think the current state of social science research is pretty bad and I wrote something for @asteriskmag.bsky.social about it. asteriskmag.com/issues/10/ca...
May 19, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I think the current state of social science research is pretty bad and I wrote something for @asteriskmag.bsky.social about it. asteriskmag.com/issues/10/ca...