Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41438004›Full record

ArticleNature machine intelligence2025

A psychometric framework for evaluating and shaping personality traits in large language models.

Gregory Serapio-García, Mustafa Safdari, Clément Crepy, Luning Sun, Stephen Fitz, Peter Romero, Marwa Abdulhai, Aleksandra Faust, Maja Matarić

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature machine intelligence, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed.

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  9. Metacognition of ChatGPT in confidence judgements.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Gregory Serapio-García *Google DeepMind, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-1890-2331
Mustafa Safdari *Google DeepMind, London, UK.ORCID 0009-0002-1604-8685
Clément CrepyGoogle DeepMind, London, UK.
Luning SunThe Psychometrics Centre, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Stephen FitzUniversity of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA.
Peter RomeroThe Psychometrics Centre, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Marwa AbdulhaiDepartment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA USA.
Aleksandra FaustGoogle DeepMind, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-3268-8685
Maja MatarićGoogle DeepMind, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8958-6666

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The advent of large language models (LLMs) has revolutionized natural language processing, enabling the generation of coherent and contextually relevant human-like text. As LLMs increasingly power conversational agents used by the general public worldwide, the synthetic personality traits embedded in these models by virtue of training on large amounts of human data are becoming increasingly important to evaluate. The style in which LLMs respond can mimic different human personality traits. Here, as these patterns can be a key factor determining the effectiveness of communication, we present a comprehensive psychometric methodology for administering and validating personality tests on widely used LLMs, as well as for shaping personality in the generated text of such LLMs. Applying this method to 18 LLMs, we found that: personality measurements in the outputs of some LLMs under specific prompting configurations are reliable and valid; evidence of reliability and validity of synthetic LLM personality is stronger for larger and instruction-fine-tuned models; and personality in LLM outputs can be shaped along desired dimensions to mimic specific human personality profiles. We discuss the application and ethical implications of the measurement and shaping method, in particular regarding responsible artificial intelligence.

Indexed as

Computational scienceComputer scienceHuman behaviour

Identifiers

PMID41438004
PMCPMC12719228

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.