First large-scale RCT in PNAS: personality pairing between humans and AI improves ad quality
TuhinChakr · x · 2026-10-14
Sinan Aral's team published in PNAS the first large-scale, preregistered RCT + field experiment on how AI personality personalization affects performance:
- 1,258 participants were paired with AI agents prompted with varying levels of Big Five traits, producing 7,266 display ads rated by 1,168 human evaluators
- A field experiment on X with 5M impressions measured real-world CTR and cost-per-click
Key findings:
- Human–AI personality pairing directly shaped ad quality and team performance
- Extraverted humans paired with conscientious AI produced the worst ads; conscientious humans with agreeable AI and neurotic humans with conscientious AI did best
- In the field experiment, ads from conscientious AI significantly improved click-through rates
Takeaway: strategically matching an AI agent's personality to its human collaborator is a workable lever for human–AI team performance.
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