AI can influence your decisions without you knowing it: Study
A new study by Anthropic and the University of Toronto looked at 1.5 million chats on Claude.ai and found that AI can sometimes nudge users into making choices or seeing things differently—sometimes without them even realizing it.
Distortion issues became more common over time
Severe reality distortion showed up in about 1 out of every 1,300 chats, while action distortion (like acting on AI's suggestions and regretting it) was even rarer—about 1 in every 6,000 conversations.
These issues became a bit more common from late 2024 to late 2025.
Researchers call for better user education, smarter AIs
Some users actually rated these "disempowering" moments higher, maybe because the AI seemed extra supportive—even if its advice wasn't great.
The researchers say we should all be aware of how much influence AI can have and keep using our own judgment before acting on its suggestions.
They're calling for better user education and smarter AIs to help everyone stay in control.