It all began with the quiet rise of AI chatbots. At first, they were just clever helpers on social media platforms—suggesting captions, designing avatars, replying to messages, and crafting new content. These bots seamlessly blend into the digital landscape, assisting users and increasing engagement. They aren’t just tools; they are becoming an integral part of the online experience.
And then came the concerns. Could these bots misstep and share false information? Could they overwhelm users with endless streams of automated posts? These questions ignited a heated debate, spotlighting the ever-evolving role of bots in the virtual world.
Meanwhile, tech firms poured resources into generative AI (GenAI) technologies—the next frontier in innovation. GenAI wasn’t just about automation; it was about creation. It could craft stories, respond like a friend, and generate entire conversations.
Bot accounts on platforms like Reddit and X are programmed to interact with users or moderate discussions based on predefined rules. According to a University of Notre Dame study, these bots significantly impact human-to-human interactions within Reddit communities. While they successfully increase user engagement, they inadvertently reduce the depth and quality of human-to-human interactions.
Human impact on conservation discussions
Once upon a time, researchers discovered that not all bots are the same in the bustling world of Reddit. They created a system to classify these bots, calling it a “taxonomy of bots,” which grouped them based on what they do and how they behave.
Some bots are simple, like busy little helpers following strict rules. Take WikiTextBot, for example. Its sole job is to find posts with Wikipedia links, grab a summary of the linked page, and reply automatically. Using Reddit’s API, it scans every post and follows its hard-coded rule: “If there’s a Wikipedia link, post a summary.” These bots, known as “reflexive bots,” respond quickly and predictably to specific situations.
Then there are bots with a more serious role—keeping Reddit communities in check. These are the “supervisory bots” tasked with moderating discussions. If a post breaks community guidelines, these bots swoop in and delete it, maintaining order based on the rules they’re programmed to enforce.
John Lalor, assistant professor of IT, analytics, and operations at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, said, “While these bots are rigid because of their rules-based nature, bots can and will become more advanced as they incorporate generative AI technologies. Therefore, it’s important to understand how the presence of these bots affects human-to-human interactions in these online communities.”
Humans show sympathy towards bullied AI bots
Between 2005 and 2019, Lalor and his team studied Reddit communities- almost 70 million posts- experiencing a rise in bot activity. They examined how bot usage affected the structure of human-to-human conversations within these subreddits.
They observed that reflexive bots, which generate and share content, increased user connections by providing novel content and encouraging engagement. However, this came at a cost: human interactions became shallower, with fewer meaningful back-and-forth discussions. Instead, bots often replied to posts, limiting deeper conversations between human users.
On the other hand, supervisory bots, designed to enforce community rules, reduced the need for human moderators. Previously, key community members would collaborate to set and uphold norms, strengthening their roles within the community. With automated moderation, this coordination became less necessary, leading to a diminished role for human moderators in fostering community engagement and culture.
The story of bots on social media is still unfolding, with platforms and their creators tasked with finding the right balance between innovation and authenticity. As firms weigh the impact of bots, they face an essential truth: how these digital entities are managed will shape the future of online human connection.
Journal Reference:
- Hani Safadi, John P. Lalor, and Nicholas Berente. The Effect of Bots on Human Interaction in Online Communities. DOI: 10.25300/MISQ/2023/17901
