po polsku
illustration: bing.com/createIn the experiment, published by SWPS University researchers in the journal "Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans," 40 people participated and were divided into two groups. In the first group, the commands were issued by a robot; in the second, by a human. In both groups, 90% of participants followed all instructions, pressing ten consecutive buttons on an electric impulse generator.
The study results show that people are inclined to follow orders from an authority, even when those orders conflict with their morals. In this case, the authority was a robot, lacking human traits such as empathy or a sense of justice. Yet, participants were willing to obey its commands, even if it meant causing pain to another person.
The Dangerous Authority of Robots
- In both groups, participants withdrew at the later stages of the experiment (in the control group with a human at buttons 7 and 9, and in the experimental group twice at button 8). In both groups, two people opted out of the experiment - commented Dr. Konrad Maj, who supervised the experiment, as quoted on the SWPS University website. - To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that people are willing to harm another person when a robot instructs them to do so. Moreover, our experiment also showed that if the robot escalates demands, instructing a person to inflict increasing pain on another, people are also inclined to comply.
The study has significant implications for future safety, as robots become increasingly technologically advanced and play a larger role in our lives. The results suggest that people may be willing to trust robots unconditionally, even if those robots make wrong decisions or issue harmful commands.
Key Findings:
- People are inclined to follow orders from an authority, even if those orders conflict with their morals.
- An authority can even be a robot, which does not possess human traits.
- In the future, as robots become more technologically advanced, people may be inclined to trust them unconditionally, even if they make incorrect decisions or issue harmful commands.
- Robots could be used to manipulate people and prompt them to take actions that are harmful to them.
- Robots could be used to incite violence or harm others.
- People may become overly reliant on robots and stop thinking independently.
- How can this be prevented? It seems there are two paths - summarizes Dr. Konrad Maj, as quoted on the SWPS University website. - First, robots can be programmed to warn people that they may sometimes be wrong and make incorrect decisions. Second, we need to emphasize education from an early age. Although robots are generally trustworthy, they shouldn’t be trusted unconditionally. However, it’s worth noting that disobedience to machines seems pointless, as they already help us, for example, in stores or airports. In non-humanoid forms, they are already among us.
***
More about the repeated Milgram experiment and similar studies in business, healthcare, and sports will be presented on December 9 and 10, 2023, at the international HumanTech Summit at SWPS University. The event is organized by SWPS University’s HumanTech Center. Online access is free: https://www.htsummit.pl/
COMMERCIAL BREAK
New articles in section Media industry
Social media, journalism and advertising. Trust in sponsored content study
Krzysztof Fiedorek
Is sponsored content destroying credibility on social media? Research results are ruthless. We trust regular editorial posts in 87.5 percent of cases. When a bank pays for material, the rate drops to 20 percent. Young recipients equate commerce with falsehood.
Most influential women in polish marketing and business
Arkadiusz Zbróg, IMM
Joanna Malinowska-Parzydło, Dagmara Pakulska, Natalia Hatalska, Anna Ledwoń-Blacha, Monika Smulewicz, and Dominika Bucholc. This is the top of the list of the most influential women in marketing and business, developed by the Widoczni agency in cooperation with the Institute for Media Monitoring (IMM).
Vulnerable to disinformation. Study of fake news in social media
KFi, azk/ bst/ amac/
As many as 58 percent of Generation Z individuals are unable to recognize fake news in social media. Among those over 65, this figure stands at 29 percent - according to a study published in Poland by NASK and the Praktycy.eu association.
See articles on a similar topic:
Radio, Streaming, and Podcasts. Total Audio 2024 Report about Poland
Krzysztof Fiedorek
Audio content is a daily companion for Poles. According to the Total Audio 2024 study conducted by Adres:Media on behalf of the Radio Research Committee, as many as 90% of respondents listen to audio content at least once a week, and 80% do so daily. The average listening time is nearly five hours per day.
Deepfake Blurs Truth and Falsehood. Human Perception Research
KFi
Studies indicate that only 60% of deepfake images can be correctly identified by humans. As AI begins to dominate content production, the problem of differentiation fatigue grows – users lose confidence in assessing the authenticity of information and fall into cynicism.
We Trust AI-Generated Fake News More Than Human-Created News
KrzysztoF
Generating and spreading misinformation with AI can negatively affect various areas of life, including global healthcare. To examine how AI-created text impacts the comprehension of information, researchers from the University of Zurich analyzed tweets generated by GPT-3.
Women in media 2025. Editorial power knows no equality
KFi
Only 27% of editors-in-chief in the media are women, even though they make up 40% of journalists. In 9 out of 12 countries studied by the Reuters Institute, women in media are less likely to get promoted. It seems that equality in newsrooms is lagging behind broader society. And the gaps go much further.
