Can chatbots encourage people to be nicer to each other?

The new wave of conversational psychology to push back against toxic language Al takes cues from social

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How would you respond if you were chatting with a stranger and they used hate speech, or told you they wanted to run over someone with their car? Some people might be agreeable. Some would deflect or change the subject. And some might ask questions or push back. Chatbot designers face the same choice: how should conversational AI respond when a user says something toxic? Interestingly, chatbots may be successful at encouraging people to do better.

Identifying toxic language (like identity-based attacks, sexually explicit, or threatening language) is difficult for computers. Moderation tools struggle to account for context, sarcasm, or slang, and both human and AI-powered moderators are more likely to label a black person's comment as offensive compared to a white person's. But when a chatbot can correctly identify a toxic statement, the next question is how to respond.

Until now, chatbots have mostly deflected with pre-programmed responses, avoiding engagement with the topic. But some researchers, including Maarten Sap, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University, believe we can do more. Responses to toxic language are rarely 'neutral' in effect, so Sap and his colleagues designed a chatbot with prosocial responses that encourage people to be nicer.

"Prosocial [means] acting to benefit other people or society as a whole, consistent with communal and social norms," says Sap.