Shortly after generative artificial intelligence hit the mainstream, researchers warned that chatbots would create a dire problem: As disinformation became easier to create, conspiracy theories would spread rampantly.

Now researchers wonder if chatbots might also offer a solution.

DebunkBot, an AI chatbot designed by researchers to “very effectively persuade” users to stop believing unfounded conspiracy theories, made significant and long-lasting progress at changing people’s convictions, according to a study published last week in the journal Science.

False theories are believed by up to half of the American public and can have damaging consequences, such as discouraging vaccinations or fueling discrimination.

Until now, conventional wisdom held that once someone fell down the conspiratorial rabbit hole, no amount of arguing or explaining would pull that person out.

The theory was that people adopt conspiracy theories to sate an underlying need to explain and control their environment, said Thomas Costello, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor of psychology at American University.

But Costello and his colleagues wondered whether there might be another explanation: What if debunking attempts just haven’t been personalized enough?

Since conspiracy theories vary so much from person to person, a one-size-fits-all debunking script isn’t the best strategy.

To test that hypothesis, they recruited more than 2,000 adults across the country, asked them to elaborate on a conspiracy that they believed in and rate how much they believed it on a scale from zero to 100.

People described a wide range of beliefs, including theories that the moon landing had been staged, that COVID-19 had been created by humans to shrink the population and that President John F. Kennedy had been killed by the CIA.

Then some participants had a brief discussion with the chatbot. They knew they were chatting with an AI but didn’t know the purpose of the discussion.

One participant believed the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job” because jet fuel couldn’t have burned hot enough to melt the steel beams of the World Trade Center. The chatbot responded:

“It is a common misconception that the steel needed to melt for the World Trade Center towers to collapse. Steel starts to lose strength and becomes more pliable at temperatures much lower than its melting point, which is around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.”

After three exchanges, which lasted about 8 minutes on average, participants rated how strongly they felt about their beliefs again. On average, their ratings dropped by about 20%; about one-fourth of participants no longer believed the falsehood. The effect also spilled into their attitudes toward other poorly supported theories, making the participants slightly less conspiratorial in general.

Ethan Porter, a misinformation researcher at George Washington University not associated with the study, said what separated the chatbot from other misinformation interventions was how robust the effect seemed to be.

When participants were surveyed two months later, the chatbot’s impact on mistaken beliefs remained unchanged.