2026-09-20T23:22:28.549Z
- publishedAt:
Not provided→ 2025-04-26T00:00:00.000Z
SOURCE-LINKED INTELLIGENCE
Reddit Moderators Report Unauthorized AI Study Involving Fabricated Identities by Purported University of Zurich Researchers
Researchers purportedly affiliated with the University of Zurich reportedly deployed undisclosed AI-generated comments on Reddit's r/ChangeMyView to study persuasion by allegedly fabricating identities such as sexual assault survivors and racial minorities. The experiment reportedly involved unauthorized demographic profiling, emotional manipulation, and violations of subreddit and platform rules. The researchers allegedly deviated from their approved protocol without renewed ethics oversight.
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- recordType
- incident-report
- evidenceStatus
- reported
- region
- Global
Reported occurrence date: 2025-04-26T00:00:00.000Z
Evidence & attribution
- AI Incident Database
- AI Incident Database · 2025-04-26T00:00:00.000Z
AI Incident Database, Responsible AI Collaborative; McGregor (2021), Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents. Incident-specific contributor credits are available at each citation link. Metadata adapted; article text excluded.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
First collected: 2026-09-19T22:50:59.123Z. This is not the publication date.
Observed changes
AIIC observation times, not verified publisher revision times. Up to eight recent revisions.