The rise of chatbots in digital interactions raises an important question: Are people more likely to be dishonest with bots than with humans? Authored by Prof. Dr. Christian Biener and Dr. Aline Waeber, this study investigates this by having participants report the results of a private, payout-relevant random draw to either a chatbot or a human. The findings reveal that people tend to be more honest with humans, especially when agency cues are present. Interestingly, chat-style interactions with chatbots do not always promote honesty and may result in similar or even lower levels of honesty compared to traditional online forms. These results have significant implications for designing trustworthy digital communication systems in a rapidly digitizing economy. This research was recently published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.

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