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.

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 page shows version v1.0. Its record never changes, even when newer evidence arrives; the site may add a note to the page or withhold a figure not cleared for public use.

This pinned version is also the current version.

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.