NIHAI: Norms in language-based Human-AI Interaction

As misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories circulate ever more freely, trust in media, science, and government is eroding. This challenge will intensify further, as we increasingly communicate with, and by aid of, large language models.

Our three-year research project seeks to devise principles for responsible LLM communication: Philosophically and empirically informed rules, that specify what LLMs should and should not say. To do so, we aim to understand what people expect in conversations with AI, how they respond when these expectations aren’t met, and whether their expectations and reactions differ across languages and cultures. Subsequently, we’ll propose guidelines for designing AI systems that communicate responsibly and transparently. We will also test the envisioned novel guidelines with industry partners who provide language-based AI applications.

© Markus Kneer

KEYWORDS:

misinformation crisis, fake news, norms of assertion, ai ethics, human-ai interaction, responsible communication.

CONSORTIUM

  • Project Leader: Markus Kneer, University of Graz, Austria
  • Izabela Skoczeń, Jagiellonian University, Poland
  • Mihaela Constantinescu, University of Bucharest, Romania
  • Markus Christen, University of Zurich, Switzerland

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS

  • Aleksander Smwyiński-Pohl (CEO), Enelpol, Poland
  • Angela Kaya (Head of Regional and Athens Institutes), Goethe Institut, Greece
  • Diana Sałacka (Head of Promotion Team), Copernicus Festival, Poland
  • Günther Repitsch (Business Development), Imendo, Austria
  • Hannes Grassegger (CEO), Polaris News, Switzerland
  • Oana Romocea (RSF Co-Founder), Romanian Science Festival, Romania
  • PD Dr. Markus Christen (Managing Director), Digital Society Initiative, Switzerland
  • Theo von Däniken (Organising Committee), Scientifica, Switzerland
  • Zbigniew Skolicki (Head of AI), VirtusLab, Poland

COOPERATION PARTERS

  • Jean-François Bonnefon, Toulouse School of Economics, France
  • Bertram Malle, Brown University, United States
  • Jana Lasser, Institute for Interactive Systems and Data Science Graz University of Technology, Austria
  • Ophelia Deroy, LMU Munich, Germany
  • Edouard Machery, University of Pittsburg, United States
  • Julian Savulescu, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • Saskia Nagel, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

 Start date

1 March 2025

Project duration

36 months

 Project budget

€ 1 055 046

Funding organisations