Detecting AI Impostors: How Do Middle Schoolers Identify LLM Agents in a Live Collaborative Setting?

Dan Schumacher; Pragathi Durga Rajarajan; Haven Kotara; Roman Rendon; Kosi Atupulazi; Deepti Tagare; Ismaila Temitayo Sanusi; Fred G. Martin; Anthony Rios

arXiv · 2608.30948

Detecting AI Impostors: How Do Middle Schoolers Identify LLM Agents in a Live Collaborative Setting?

Dan Schumacher·Pragathi Durga Rajarajan·Haven Kotara·Roman Rendon·Kosi Atupulazi·Deepti Tagare·Ismaila Temitayo Sanusi·Fred G. Martin·Anthony Rios

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Abstract

LLMs can imitate how people write, which raises concerns about impersonation, trust, and detection in social settings. These concerns are especially important for adolescents, who use generative AI frequently but may struggle to recognize it. We introduce \textit{DoppelBot}, a cooperative social deduction game designed to study how young people detect and respond to AI impersonation. Through studies with middle schoolers, we investigate whether a DoppelBot prompts reflection on privacy and impersonation, how repeated exposure affects AI-detection accuracy as agents become more personalized, and which strategies students use to identify AI doppelg\"angers. We find that students' detection accuracy improves over time, driven by a shift from relying on linguistic cues to leveraging shared social and contextual signals. Students also demonstrated an understanding of AI limitations such as embodiment and reflected on broader issues such as data privacy. To support future research, we release an anonymized dataset of game transcripts and voting behavior.

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Dan Schumacher, Pragathi Durga Rajarajan, Haven Kotara, Roman Rendon, Kosi Atupulazi, Deepti Tagare, Ismaila Temitayo Sanusi, Fred G. Martin, Anthony Rios. 2026-08-31. Detecting AI Impostors: How Do Middle Schoolers Identify LLM Agents in a Live Collaborative Setting?. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30948

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