Your Chatbot Needs a Human Touch

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Humanizing Bots Reduces Customer Misconduct
Insights from Ariyh

AI is everywhere—from answering support queries to helping you return a product. But here's the catch: when customers know they’re talking to a bot, they’re more likely to bend the rules.

Recent research from five global universities reveals a fascinating insight: users behave more ethically when chatbots seem more human.

Here’s what they found across four major experiments:

• People were 34.7% more likely to cheat or lie to an emotionless bot
• Users felt 19.5% less guilty after doing so
• But adding simple human cues (like a name or avatar) reduced unethical behavior by 18.5%

Why does this work? When a chatbot feels cold and robotic, users assume it lacks judgment, and so feel less guilt about being dishonest. But human touches like a warm tone, a friendly name, or an avatar trigger emotional accountability.

Companies are catching on:

• Wrike uses a bot with a photo and a friendly tone
• Bank of America’s Erica adjusts tone based on user preferences
• A-Lehdet’s bot “Aaro” uses emojis and a casual name to feel familiar

Here’s how you can apply this:
1️⃣ Give your bot a human-like name and image
2️⃣ Use warm, conversational language
3️⃣ Let customers know a human is supervising the interaction
4️⃣ Use stronger human traits for tasks prone to fraud (e.g., refunds)
5️⃣ For routine queries, a neutral bot voice is fine

The Takeaway
AI is powerful—but without empathy, it’s vulnerable to abuse. Adding a human touch makes your chatbot not just smarter, but also trusted. And when trust increases, so does ethical behavior.

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