AI Analyzes Speech to Uncover Personality Traits

Study finds generative AI models can predict personality, behaviors, and emotions as well as close friends and family.

Jan. 30, 2026 at 10:31pm

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A new University of Michigan study found that widely available generative AI models like ChatGPT and Claude can predict personality, key behaviors, and daily emotions as accurately or even more so than people's close friends and family. The researchers had the AI read people's own words, either short daily video diaries or longer recordings of their thoughts, and asked it to answer personality questions the way each person would. The results showed the AI's personality scores were very similar to how people rated themselves, and often matched them better than ratings from friends or family.

Why it matters

This research indicates that personality naturally shows up in our everyday thoughts, words, and stories - even when we're not trying to describe ourselves. The findings support the idea that language carries deep clues about how people differ in psychological traits like personality and mood, and that open-ended writing and speech can be a powerful tool for understanding personality. Generative AI now allows researchers to analyze this kind of data quickly and accurately in ways that weren't possible before.

The details

Researchers looked into whether AI programs like ChatGPT and Claude can act like general "judges" of personality. To test this, they had the AI read people's own words - either short daily video diaries or longer recordings of what happened to be on their mind - and asked it to answer personality questions the way each person would. The study included stories and thoughts from more than 160 people collected in real-life and lab settings. The results showed that the AI's personality scores were very similar to how people rated themselves, and often matched them better than ratings from friends or family. Older text-analysis methods did not perform nearly as well as these newer AI systems.

  • The study's findings appear in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

The players

Aidan Wright

U-M professor of psychology and psychiatry and the study's first author.

Chandra Sripada

U-M professor of philosophy and psychiatry who says the findings support the long-held idea that language carries deep clues about how people differ in psychological traits such as personality and mood.

Colin Vize

Assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh who says the study "shows that AI can reliably uncover personality traits from everyday language, pointing to a new frontier in understanding human psychology."

Whitney Ringwald

Assistant professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota who says the results "really highlight how our personality is infused in everything we do, even down to our mundane, everyday experiences and passing thoughts."

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What they’re saying

“What this study shows is AI can also help us understand ourselves better, providing insights into what makes us most human, our personalities.”

— Aidan Wright, U-M professor of psychology and psychiatry (Mirage News)

“We were taken aback by just how strong these associations were, given how different these two data sources are.”

— Aidan Wright, U-M professor of psychology and psychiatry (Mirage News)

“The study shows that AI can reliably uncover personality traits from everyday language, pointing to a new frontier in understanding human psychology.”

— Colin Vize, Assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh (Mirage News)

“The results really highlight how our personality is infused in everything we do, even down to our mundane, everyday experiences and passing thoughts.”

— Whitney Ringwald, Assistant professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota (Mirage News)

What’s next

Researchers also don't yet know whether AI and humans rely on the same signals - or whether AI could one day outperform self-reports when predicting major life outcomes like relationships, education, health, or career success.

The takeaway

This research indicates that our personality is reflected in our everyday language and thoughts, and generative AI models can now analyze this data to provide insights into who we are as individuals. While more research is needed, this study points to a new frontier in understanding human psychology through the lens of artificial intelligence.