Persuasion and Common Ground
Interpersonal Discussions and Tipping Points in Social Networks
Sandra González-Bailón, Diego Reineiro, James Houghton
Annenberg School for Communication, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Examines how interpersonal discussions shape individuals' moral and political views and how these influences spread through repeated interactions within social networks.
Persuasion and Common Ground
Integrative experiment to explore the effect of conversation interventions on dialogue across disagreement
James Houghton, Dean Knox, Yphtach Lelkes, Matthew Levendusky, Erik Santoro, Erin Walk, Duncan Watts
School of Engineering and Applied Science, The Wharton School, Annenberg School for Communication, Annenberg Public Policy Center
Conducts a large-scale experiment testing 21 interventions designed to improve dialogue across socio-political difference and evaluate which are most effective at encouraging future conversations.
When AI Mediates Information
AI Watchman: Longitudinally Auditing Generative AI Content Moderation of Social Issues
Emma Lurie, Sorelle Friedler, Danaé Metaxa
School of Engineering and Applied Science (external collaborator: Computer Science at Haverford College)
Introduces an open-source interactive monitoring system to improve transparency on how LLMs moderate content, especially for politically contested social issues.
Persuasion and Common Ground
Information Density and Narrative Persuasion in AI Chatbots: Cross-National Evidence from India and the United States
Neil Sehgal, Sharath Chandra Guntuku, Andy Tan
School of Engineering and Applied Science, Annenberg School for Communication
Tests how conversational styles of AI chatbots (factual vs. narrative-based) shape persuasion, trust, and information sharing across the United States and India.
Unpacking the Media Ecosystem
Documenting how National News Media Depict Crime in the US
Baird Howland, Billy Pierce, Amir Tohidi, Duncan Watts
Annenberg School for Communication, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Uses large language models to analyze national mainstream media coverage of crime, examining which crimes receive attention, how they are framed, and what solutions are promoted.
When AI Mediates Information
PolitiChat: Understand Political Bias in LLMs Through Real Human-LLM Conversations
Originally titled: How AI Transforms News: Measuring Bias and Distortion During LLM Conversations
Elliot Pickens, Duncan Watts, Chris Callison-Burch
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Maps how users discuss political topics with chatbots, tracing conversations back to original news articles to document fabrication, overgeneralization, and selective emphasis.
Persuasion and Common Ground
Narrative License in Science Communication in the Era of Large Language Models
Calvin Isch, Phil Tetlock, Duncan Watts
Annenberg School for Communication, The Wharton School, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Studies "Narrative License," when scientific claims outrun the evidence, leveraging LLMs to detect it at scale, test its effects on readers, and devise interventions to limit its spread.
Unpacking the Media Ecosystem
Archiving Digital Political Advertising Content
Andrew Arenge, Marc Meredith, Matthew Levendusky
School of Arts and Sciences – Political Science
Builds a comprehensive, searchable dataset of digital political ads run in the United States since 2018 to support research on how platform policies and campaign rhetoric evolve across election cycles.
Unpacking the Media Ecosystem
Who Controls the Media? Measuring Media Orientation in Civic Coverage with Action–Based Sentiment Toward the Government
Ezgi Yilmaz, Zung-Ru Lin, Mina Rulis, Erik Wibbels
School of Arts and Sciences – Political Science
Uses LLMs to track how news outlets frame coverage for national incumbents when reporting on civic matters.
When AI Mediates Information
Adversarial Testing of Misalignment in Frontier LLMs When Asked to Create Anti-Democratic Campaign Materials
Gayoung Jeon, Neil Fasching, Deen Freelon
School of Engineering and Applied Science, Annenberg School for Communication
Conducts adversarial testing on 19 frontier models to see how safety guardrails can be bypassed to generate anti-democratic campaign content.
When AI Mediates Information
Unpacking How Context (Conversation History) Shifts the Framing of LLMs Outputs
Vishwanath Emani Venkata, Sandra González-Bailón
Annenberg School for Communication
Examines whether LLM-powered search systems generate responses that align with users' preexisting political beliefs, potentially reinforcing echo chambers.
Unpacking the Media Ecosystem
Election Administration Media Dashboard
Liz Stark, Marc Meredith, Michael Morse
School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Builds a comprehensive repository of media coverage on election administration, offering scholars, policymakers, and citizens critical data on how media narratives affect public confidence in elections.