The impact of using AI-powered technology for lie detection in negotiations.

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Ayoub Al-Hamadi; Professor Dr. Joachim Weimann
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 468478819

The increasing digitization of social and economic interactions is proceeding at a considerable speed. Research on digitization processes should reconcile two areas of knowledge, which are usually examined separately from each other: First, the question of technical development and second, the question of the effects of this development on human behavior. In the project applied for, an attempt will be made to combine both perspectives in an interdisciplinary approach, whereby the focus is on behavioral analysis, but the technical components are nevertheless strongly represented. The use case chosen for this type of analysis of digitization processes is the phenomenon of asymmetric information. Specifically, we investigate to what extent the paradigm of asymmetric information has become at least partially obsolete through the use of AI technologies. In our interdisciplinary project, instead of waiting for technological developments in the field of AI-based lie detection, we would like to contribute to technological progress on our part, while experimentally investigating the possible social consequences of this technology.The project proposal combines two research areas: Economics (WW) and Neuro-Information Technology (NIT). In both fields, the identification of private information plays a major role, but is approached from different angles. While economic analysis focuses on the role and importance of private information in negotiation situations, NIT focuses on the feasibility and quality of automated recognition of personal characteristics.The main goal is to answer the two questions. (1) Does the existence of such AI technologies lead to market selection effects? (2) Under what circumstances will actors prefer a market design that uses or omits AI-enabled technology? As key sub-objectives, we want to find out how well lying can be detected by machines in our negotiation context and how subjects deal with the information provided by this AI technology.In summary, the project addresses economic consequences of digitalization in the area of market design. The aim is to investigate how actors select themselves into corresponding submarkets and whether the markets come into existence at all. This research question is of high practical and scientific relevance. The use of AI will increase strongly in the coming years and appear in more and more applications. In view of this development, it is of high social and scientific interest to know how the use of such technologies influences the behavior of the actors concerned.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants