AI tools took professional personality tests – here’s what happened

Research from MIT also suggests that the path to AI consciousness is very plausible, with some tools already able to replicate a person’s values and preferences with only a two-hour interview.

Whilst these tools are not currently conscious beings, a new study from Online DISC Profile shows that different personalities are already evident.

Online DISC Profile offers assessments for people to determine their DISC type to learn more about their traits, communication style and ideal work environments. Gemini, Perplexity, CoPilot, DeepSeek and ChatGPT were put to the same test.

ChatGPT and CoPilot

Both these LLMs showed the DI, or ‘ dominance influence’ personality DISC type, which has traits such as self-confidence, high energy and authoritativeness.

Those using ChatGPT or CoPilot on tasks such as drafting emails, writing articles or filling out application forms will likely be met with direct, engaging and motivational tones in their responses.

These tools will generally be more confident in their answers too, so this will be beneficial to anyone with a similar DISC type personality.

Perplexity

In contrast, Perplexity has the ‘ influence dominance’ or ID personality type, meaning users will get clarity in their responses, owing to the strong leadership qualities ID types possess, but will also get a social tone.

Adam Stamm, co-owner of Online DISC Profile, notes that ID types “bring a sense of urgency to get things started and keep things moving.”

“The spontaneity that ‘influencers’ bring allows for variety in their environment. They embrace positions of authority, and appreciate when others handle some of the details and logistics.”

DeepSeek and Gemini

These both fall under the ‘steadiness’ DISC personality type, with DeepSeek aligning to SIc and Gemini to SCi. These are both rarer types than the other tools displayed.

Both tools will have messaging that is calming and supportive to reflect the ‘steadiness’ need to seek a stable and consistent environment.

They are active “listeners”, so you might find the results from asking DeepSeek or Gemini questions will be more specific, as they have taken time to read carefully and slowly.

So what does this mean?

With this new data showing that LLMs have differing personality types, it highlights that anyone using these tools needs to check that the tone coming from these platforms aligns with what they intend, or else it could be misinterpreted.

Adam adds: “It also comes down to the amount of editing you do as well, no one should take what an LLM writes as verbatim and run with it - always edit what comes from these sources.”

But there is the ability to train them. If we consider a workplace where you might have a mixture of personalities, you would adapt communication styles to align, training LLMs would be no different.

Whilst there needs to be caution in using them to replicate a person’s values entirely, training them to speak a tone you need can be beneficial and advantageous.

If used correctly, these tools can help individual users as a multitude of industries with big tasks, and if you consider a person's DISC type, you can use the matching tool to help deliver work in the right tone and style.

The full breakdown of LLMs and their personality types can be found on Online DISC Profile’s website.