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GPT in Game Theory Experiments

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  • Fulin Guo

Abstract

This paper explores the use of Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT) in strategic game experiments, specifically the ultimatum game and the prisoner's dilemma. I designed prompts and architectures to enable GPT to understand the game rules and to generate both its choices and the reasoning behind decisions. The key findings show that GPT exhibits behaviours similar to human responses, such as making positive offers and rejecting unfair ones in the ultimatum game, along with conditional cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma. The study explores how prompting GPT with traits of fairness concern or selfishness influences its decisions. Notably, the "fair" GPT in the ultimatum game tends to make higher offers and reject offers more frequently compared to the "selfish" GPT. In the prisoner's dilemma, high cooperation rates are maintained only when both GPT players are "fair". The reasoning statements GPT produces during gameplay reveal the underlying logic of certain intriguing patterns observed in the games. Overall, this research shows the potential of GPT as a valuable tool in social science research, especially in experimental studies and social simulations.

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  • Fulin Guo, 2023. "GPT in Game Theory Experiments," Papers 2305.05516, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2305.05516
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    Cited by:

    1. Jingru Jia & Zehua Yuan, 2024. "An Experimental Study of Competitive Market Behavior Through LLMs," Papers 2409.08357, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    2. Philip Brookins & Jason DeBacker, 2024. "Playing games with GPT: What can we learn about a large language model from canonical strategic games?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(1), pages 25-37.
    3. Jingru Jia & Zehua Yuan & Junhao Pan & Paul E. McNamara & Deming Chen, 2024. "Decision-Making Behavior Evaluation Framework for LLMs under Uncertain Context," Papers 2406.05972, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    4. Ennio Bilancini & Leonardo Boncinelli & Eugenio Vicario, 2024. "AI-powered Chatbots: Effective Communication Styles for Sustainable Development Goals," Papers 2407.01057, arXiv.org.
    5. Bauer, Kevin & Liebich, Lena & Hinz, Oliver & Kosfeld, Michael, 2023. "Decoding GPT's hidden "rationality" of cooperation," SAFE Working Paper Series 401, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    6. Nunzio Lor`e & Babak Heydari, 2023. "Strategic Behavior of Large Language Models: Game Structure vs. Contextual Framing," Papers 2309.05898, arXiv.org.

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