AI advice made people less accurate but more confident – sudy(thenextweb.com)
359 points by rbanffy 1 day ago | 207 comments
tl;dr: A study from French and Italian researchers found that giving people access to AI advice dropped their willingness to say "I don't know" from 44% to 3% and accuracy from 27% to 9%, while confidence jumped from 30% to 76%. Researchers deliberately used questions where the AI model (Step 3.5 Flash) typically failed, ruling out sensible delegation as an explanation. Monetary incentives to be accurate barely helped, suggesting the mere availability of AI erodes users' ability to recognize the limits of their own knowledge.
HN Discussion:
  • Study is methodologically flawed by rigging questions the AI would fail on
  • Real-world observation confirms people blindly trust and relay AI answers
  • AI enables people to confidently reinforce ignorance and avoid correction
  • Results would differ with better models or proper RAG/alignment
  • ~Effect isn't AI-specific; any confidently wrong source would produce similar results