Can ChatGPT convince you to get a COVID19 vaccine? Comparing ChatGPT to an expert system - which on…

Study compared an expert system chatbot vs ChatGPT for COVID-19 vaccine persuasion, with expert system rated slightly more convincing (3.63 vs 3.38 average score)

Initial argument graph contained 7 core concerns with 2-4 counter-arguments each, focused on common vaccine hesitancy reasons like side effects and fast development

Simple bag-of-words classifier was used to identify user concerns and select appropriate counter-arguments, rather than complex similarity measurements

20% of 240 participants changed their stance to positive after chatting with the bot, showing greater effectiveness compared to static webpage presentation

Arguments were vetted by healthcare professionals rather than crowdsourced due to sensitive topic

System focused purely on argumentation without question-answering capability, using pre-scripted responses based on identified concerns

Study recruited 300 UK participants who were initially vaccine-hesitant through Prolific platform

Chatbot dialogue was one-sided persuasion rather than two-way debate, with bot providing counter-arguments until exhausted

Concern graph expanded from 7 to ~20 concerns through iterative testing with user batches

Expert system’s success despite simplicity suggests potential value in combining basic expert systems with more advanced AI approaches