Work

Integrating machine behavior into human subject experiments: a user-friendly toolkit and an application to framed prisoner’s dilemmas

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) have the potential to profoundly transform and enrich experimental economic research. We propose a new software framework, “alter_ego”, which makes it easy to design experiments between LLMs and to integrate LLMs into oTree-based experiments with human subjects. Our toolkit is freely available at github.com/mrpg/ego . To illustrate, we run differently framed prisoner’s dilemmas with interacting machines as well as with human-machine interaction. Framing effects in machine-only treatments are strong and similar to those expected from previous human-only experiments, yet less pronounced and qualitatively different if machines interact with human participants.

Source: Experimental Economics

DOI: 10.1017/eec.2025.10038

Authors: Christoph Engel, Max Rainer Pascal Großmann, Axel Ockenfels

Institutions: Max Planck Society, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics, The University of Melbourne, University of Cologne

Language: English

Topic: Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft