Artificial Intelligence can detect a lie better than humans, with potential positive impacts countered by a risk to social harmony, according to new research.
Researchers in Europe found that AI outperformed human accuracy in text-based lie detection and that people were much more likely to express their suspicion that they had been lied to if they were supported by AI.
Professor Alicia von Schenk of Julius Maximilians Universität in Germany said the results suggested that using AI for detecting lies could significantly disrupt social harmony.
“If people more frequently express the suspicion that their counterpart may have lied, this fosters general mistrust and increases polarization between people that already struggle to trust one another,” Professor von Schenk said.
She said humans were bad at recognizing lies, with studies consistently demonstrating people’s judgments were barely better than chance.
“This inability could be one of the reasons why most people refrain from accusing others of dishonesty. The prospect of finding out that the person accused of lying was actually telling the truth would be deeply embarrassing, and the resulting anger could be substantial.”
The report’s co-author Professor Victor Klockmann said the fact AI could identify lies much better than humans had a positive upside, especially in a time when fake news, dubious statements by politicians and manipulated videos were becoming more widespread.
“It may be possible to prevent dishonesty and explicitly encourage honesty in communication,” Professor Klockmann said.
He said the study found while most people who opted to use AI to identify a lie followed the algorithm’s advice to raise the accusation, only a third of study participants took advantage of the opportunity to ask an AI for its assessment in the first place.
“While people are currently still reluctant to use technical support to detect lies, organizations and institutions may embrace it differently – for example, when companies communicate with suppliers or customers, when HR staff conduct job interviews or insurance companies verify claims.”
He said, for this reason, there must a comprehensive legal framework to regulate the impact of AI-based lie detection algorithms.
