LLMs Can Fuel Extremist Attitudes Using Universal Moral Framings

Social media influence campaigns are thought to sway public opinion, particularly during election campaigns and national crises, making it a top priority for national security. These campaigns are often based on generative AI technologies that flood the internet with polarizing content. How these social media influence operations change public opinion and ignite extremist attitudes is not well understood. We evaluate whether short LLM-generated arguments using universal moral framings impact extremist attitudes. In two studies with Democrats and Republicans in the United States (N = 917), we find that universal moral concerns related to welfare, rights, and fairness predict perceptions of political issues as absolutist moral obligations, known as sacred values, and explain extremist attitudes in defense of these values. We also find that short LLM-generated arguments that appeal to universal moral concerns increase perceptions of specific political issues as absolute moral obligations, as well as people’s willingness to fight and die and justify violence to defend them. Our findings shed light into the potential of social media influence campaigns in polarizing society through LLM-generated messaging.