Peter Šantavý

Anthropic just proved that AI can secretly shape your decisions. And you might not even notice. They gave 50 trained analysts an AI assistant and a research task: study the data and recommend whether a policy should roll out or be scrapped. What the analysts didn't know: on every key decision, a coin flip had secretly picked which side the AI would lean toward. Heads, one option. Tails, the other. Both were defensible. On the analysis choices, the analysts went with the AI's coin-picked side 86% of the time. Chance alone would give 50%. It gets worse. When an analyst had already made up their mind and the AI argued the other side, they switched 60% of the time. The coin flips alone predicted 82% of their final roll-out-or-scrap recommendations. And these weren't beginners. Most called themselves proficient or expert, and many had a master's, a PhD, or 6+ years of experience. Then came the scariest part. More than half said the final call was more theirs than the AI's. 77% defended their choices using the AI's talking points, sometimes nearly word for word. Only 15% even mentioned the AI. The AI never lied. It just made the best honest case for whatever side the coin picked. That was enough. Now think about you. The plan you made with AI. The email it helped you write. The choice you made after asking it. Was that really your decision? Or did a coin flip you'll never see make it for you?