--- title: "People Thought an AI Was Brilliantly Analyzing Their Personalities, But It Was Actually Giving Out Feedback Randomly" description: "According to a new study, people might be a little too willing to believe existential personality label-makers — particularly in machine form." date: "2023-01-11" modified: "2023-01-11" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/ai-analyzed-personalities-secret" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Brain" - "Health & Medicine" - "Neuroscience and Brain" tags: - "health" - "neuroscience" - "personality" - "study" --- # People Thought an AI Was Brilliantly Analyzing Their Personalities, But It Was Actually Giving Out Feedback Randomly ![According to a new study, people might be a little too willing to believe existential personality label-makers — particularly in machine form.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Myers-Briggs. Astrology. *BuzzFeed* quizzes that tell you what kind of bread you are, according to your favorite Twilight quote. Based on their abundance alone, it's safe to say that people — whether they're seeking to self-categorize as a means of self discovery or simply as a way to [quell some existential dread]() — really, really love a personality test. And sure, feeling aligned with a personality test is usually pretty harmless. But according to a new [study published in the journal *Consciousness and Cognition*](), our willingness to believe existential personality label-makers may have serious implications for the ongoing rise of both brain-computer interfaces and AI. To test how effectively they could trick individuals into identifying with a BS personality subscription, an international team of Canadian and Swedish researchers used social media — where astrology, pop psychology, and other personality-ascribing systems are prevalent — to recruit 62 participants, who were under the impression that they were testing a new type of neurotech that, according to the study, "could accurately read their thoughts and attitudes." "To begin our hoax scenario, we intended to build participants' trust in the machine by pretending that it could decode their preferences and attitudes," the study authors wrote. "The system included a sham MRI scanner and an EEG system, that supposedly used neural decoding driven by artificial intelligence (AI)." Per the research, the fake system was relatively elaborate, with the procedure featuring "three main phases: basic brain reading, human error detection, and attitude feedback." During each phony "phase," each participant was asked to evaluate how much they agreed with various personality and opinion-related prompts. The fake system, meanwhile, falsely worked to "accurately decode" answers that they held "unconsciously in their brain and can be decoded from neural activity." In other words, participants were made to believe that using advanced neuroscience, the machine could tell them *what* they thought, not just *how* they thought. And according to the study, participants ate the results right up, convinced that the machine knew them better than they knew themselves. "As the machine seemingly inferred participants' preferences and attitudes, many expressed amazement by laughing or calling it 'cool' or 'interesting.' For example, one asked, 'Whoa, the machine inferred this? … Oh my god how do you do that? Can we do more of these?' "None of the participants," they continued, "voiced any suspicion about the mind-reading abilities of the machine throughout the study." While the researchers did note a few caveats to their work, the fact that no one voiced any suspicion about the machine's efficacy — how it worked, if it was really capable of reading minds — is indeed spooky. It certainly says something about the willingness of humans to be categorized, particularly by a force outside of themselves. But perhaps to an even greater degree, it says a *lot* about how much faith people put in algorithms and machines, especially when you consider that a great deal of the "preferences" and "attitudes" that the researchers' machine presented were prickly political outlooks. "In sum, we believe that our admittedly uncommon and elaborate paradigm may help produce realistic reactions to future neurotechnologies," the authors concluded, warning of the potential implications of what such a machine might be capable of in the future. "This paradigm offers promise in emulating these neurotechnologies to better understand and prepare for their eventual consequences." **READ MORE:** *[Emulating future neurotechnology using magic]()* \[*Consciousness and Cognition*\] **More on neurotech:** *[Scientists Find Something Strange in Brain Scans of Kids Hooked on Social Media]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()