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AI simulations of 1000 people accurately replicate their behaviour

Using GPT-4o, the model behind ChatGPT, researchers have replicated the personality and behaviour of more than 1000 people, in an effort to create an alternative to focus groups and polling

By Chris Stokel-Walker

20 November 2024

Can AI replicate individual humans?

gremlin/Getty Images

An experiment simulating more than 1000 real people using the artificial intelligence model behind ChatGPT has successfully replicated their unique thoughts and personalities with high accuracy, sparking concerns about the ethics of mimicking individuals in this way.

Joon Sung Park at Stanford University in California and his colleagues wanted to use generative AI tools to model individuals as a way of forecasting the impact of policy changes. Historically, this has been attempted using more simplistic rule-based statistical models, with limited success.

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