A 2025 meta-analysis of seven earlier studies found no average persuasiveness difference between LLMs and humans, with substantial heterogeneity.

SocioLens project,

Claim LD10-HQ-C07 (v1.0)

A 2025 meta-analysis of seven earlier studies found no average persuasiveness difference between LLMs and humans, with substantial heterogeneity.

Research opportunities this claim motivates

What this claim leaves open for research. Each is a hypothesis about a gap, not a finding.

An updated meta-analysis of AI persuasion that separates attitudes from behaviourA 2025 meta-analysis of seven studies found no average AI–human difference with substantial heterogeneity; an updated meta-analysis including 2025–26 frontier systems is named as what would change it.

Provenance and status

Claim type: Estimate
Publication status: Eligible for publication, with qualifiers: vintage
Verification state: Checked against the primary source. Who checked this claim is not recorded for it; claim checks so far were AI-led, and no person has checked claims against their sources.
Does not license: Timeless claim that frontier AI is no more persuasive than humans
Limitations: Few studies; mixed formats and model vintages
Source (as cited): Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025
Source type: Systematic review or meta-analysis (recorded as “Meta-analysis”)
Institutional position: Independent academic
Maturity of the evidence: Emerging evidence
Recorded date: 25 September 2026
Currentness / correction: This is the current version. No correction or concern is recorded on its sources.

Sources this version cites

Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025 (Systematic review or meta-analysis)
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Version

This is the current version, v1.0. Earlier versions stay available, and their records never change.

Versions: v1.0 · current

Raw record: every recorded field, with its coded values

All 25 canonical Claim fields, verbatim, with the coded values derived from them. The plain-language labels above are read from these.

Claim type (coded): ESTIMATE (as printed: “ESTIMATE”)
Publication status (coded): ELIGIBLE (VINTAGE) (as printed: “ELIGIBLE WITH VINTAGE QUALIFIER”)
Verification state (coded): CONTENT_VERIFIED_PRIMARY
Source type (coded): SYSTEMATIC_REVIEW_OR_META_ANALYSIS
Maturity (coded): EMERGING

#	Canonical field	Canonical value (verbatim)	Normalized (Claim Value Vocabulary v1.0.2)
1	CLAIM ID	LD10-HQ-C07	—
2	PUBLIC-FACING CLAIM	A 2025 meta-analysis of seven earlier studies found no average persuasiveness difference between LLMs and humans, with substantial heterogeneity.	—
3	CLAIM TYPE	ESTIMATE	base_types: ESTIMATE
4	RESEARCH STRAND	A — Controlled persuasion	—
5	MATURITY	EMERGING	states: EMERGING
6	SOURCE	Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025	source_ids: SRC-LD10-HOLBLING-MAIER-FEUERRIEGEL-2025
7	SOURCE TYPE	Meta-analysis	classes: SYSTEMATIC_REVIEW_OR_META_ANALYSIS
8	INSTITUTIONAL POSITION	Independent academic	—
9	SCOPE	Mostly Anglophone, pre-2025 model vintages	—
10	DESIGN	Systematic review / meta-analysis	—
11	SAMPLE / DATASET	7 studies; 17,422 participants; 12 effects	—
12	MODEL / TOOL / VERSION	Mixed older LLMs	—
13	COMPARATOR	Human persuaders	—
14	MAIN RESULT	g=.02, p=.530; I²=75.97%	—
15	INFERENTIAL TARGET	Average earlier-vintage LLM-human gap	—
16	DOES NOT LICENSE	Timeless claim that frontier AI is no more persuasive than humans	—
17	VERIFICATION STATE	CONTENT VERIFIED	state: CONTENT_VERIFIED_PRIMARY · verified_by: UNKNOWN
18	LIMITATIONS	Few studies; mixed formats and model vintages	—
19	CONTRADICTORY / SUPPORTING SOURCES	C08 newer frontier-model RCTs show expert-human advantage	—
20	GEOGRAPHY / LANGUAGE	Mostly Anglophone	—
21	DISTRIBUTIONAL LEDGER	NO EVIDENCE LOCATED	—
22	R01 / FIELD-MAP LINKS	D7, R-1	—
23	WHAT WOULD CHANGE THIS CLAIM?	Updated meta-analysis including 2025–26 frontier systems	—
24	PUBLICATION STATUS	ELIGIBLE WITH VINTAGE QUALIFIER	state: ELIGIBLE · qualifiers: VINTAGE
25	RECORDED DATE	2026-09-25	—

Field 22 references resolved against Field Map v0.2: D7 (DOMAIN); R-1 (LENS)

The sources as recorded, with their record IDs and coded source types:

Pinned Sources (field 6, version-specific)

“Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025” → Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025 (SRC-LD10-HOLBLING-MAIER-FEUERRIEGEL-2025--v1.0) — Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025; class SYSTEMATIC_REVIEW_OR_META_ANALYSIS (explicit public provenance pin)

Cited by Living Debate versions

Persuasion, Intermediation & the Information Order (v0.1) LD-10

Cite this page

SocioLens project. (2026, September 25). A 2025 meta-analysis of seven earlier studies found no average persuasiveness difference between LLMs and humans, with substantial heterogeneity [Claim LD10-HQ-C07, version v1.0]. SocioLens. https://sociolens-web.pages.dev/claims/ld10-hq-c07/v1.0/

@misc{sociolens_ld10_hq_c07_v1_0,
  author = {{SocioLens project}},
  title = {A 2025 meta-analysis of seven earlier studies found no average persuasiveness difference between LLMs and humans, with substantial heterogeneity.},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-09-25},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sociolens-web.pages.dev/claims/ld10-hq-c07/v1.0/}},
  note = {Claim LD10-HQ-C07, version v1.0}
}

The link points to this version, whose record never changes. For a finding, cite the original study as well: SocioLens summarizes research and does not replace it.

Research-of-record provenance

Materialized by sociolens-materializer 0.6.0 at 2026-09-28T20:00:00.000Z; normalization contract SocioLens — Claim Value Vocabulary v1.0.2 — Pre-Spike Materialization Contract (v1.0.2). Content seal SHA-256 3b2baeaa219428d7422cd565c04be935467638115c9fc11a61552863dbab4a82.

Frozen Drive-derived inputs

R07 — LD-10 Canonical Claim Ledger v1.0 — LOCKED (v1.0) — Drive ID 1f9tgGnqv80_UyhW0kCgcnTgWNPlx-DYM; revision: NOT_EXPOSED_BY_DRIVE_TEXT_EXPORT; Drive modified ; block “ENTRY 07 — LD10-HQ-C07 ” SHA-256 d11d06bf82adb73c64ccb6733d409bd9eadefea4769d6f6cd2e5bd0e127e8c68; SocioLens — Programme Status & Authority Register v0.6 status “CURRENT.”; frozen fixture fixtures/frozen/r07-ld10-claim-ledger-v1.0-canonical.

Builder decisions (not Drive data)

VERSION = v1.0 — basis: Claim version taken from the canonical ledger artifact version (R07 — LD-10 Canonical Claim Ledger v1.0); Implementation Architecture Selection §5 logical_id/version convention.
CURRENT_POINTER = true — basis: SocioLens — Programme Status & Authority Register v0.6 status for "R07 — LD-10 Canonical Claim Ledger v1.0 — LOCKED": "CURRENT."
FIELD_6_SOURCE_REFERENCE = SRC-LD10-HOLBLING-MAIER-FEUERRIEGEL-2025--v1.0 — basis: field 6 of ENTRY 07 — LD10-HQ-C07 cites "Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025"; the frozen field-6 segment of this ClaimVersion's ledger block (fixtures/frozen/r07-ld10-claim-ledger-v1.0-canonical); Drive-derived identity authority (Issue #53 Source inventory, factory-hq decision HQ-ESC-sociolens-ld10-t5-20261011T050405Z-01 ruling 3 inventory S4): R07 Batch 01 lines 142, 144; ledger C07 fields 6/7/8; KEY EVIDENCE line 930 of the locked LD-10 Living Debate.
SOURCE_PROVENANCE_PIN = SRC-LD10-HOLBLING-MAIER-FEUERRIEGEL-2025--v1.0 — basis: Issue #5 proof rendering (Architecture Proof Protocol v0.1 AP-08 / Amendment v1.2 §6): explicit version-pinned public provenance of this ClaimVersion — the pinned field-6 Source record "Hölbling, Maier & Feuerriegel, Scientific Reports 2025"; Drive-derived identity authority (Issue #53 Source inventory, factory-hq decision HQ-ESC-sociolens-ld10-t5-20261011T050405Z-01 ruling 3 inventory S4): R07 Batch 01 lines 142, 144; ledger C07 fields 6/7/8; KEY EVIDENCE line 930 of the locked LD-10 Living Debate.