ABSTRACT
Objective
Although screening for bots and/or using costly panel services for recruiting participants online has become increasingly necessary, such efforts may no longer ensure the validity of data collected online. Newly released agentic AI models, such as the ChatGPT agent, have the ability to complete surveys relatively indistinguishably from humans.
Methods
The current paper outlines efforts that the body image, weight, and eating disorders (BIWED) lab has undergone to screen for and detect AI data completion reliably and validly.
Results
There are some tasks that ChatGPT agents do not perform identically to human responders (e.g., video tasks, online games, open-ended responses, and reCAPTCHA). We present the methods that have been the most successful at identifying AI agent survey completion.
Discussion
We discuss potential solutions, field-wide concerns, and future directions for the field more broadly.