From Divergence to Alignment: Evaluating the Role of Large Language Models in Facilitating Agreement Through Adaptive Strategies

Achieving consensus in group decision-making often involves overcoming significant challenges, particularly reconciling diverse perspectives and mitigating biases hindering agreement. Traditional methods relying on human facilitators are usually constrained by scalability and efficiency, especially in large-scale, fast-paced discussions. To address these challenges, this study proposes a novel real-time facilitation framework, employing large language models (LLMs) as automated facilitators within a custom-built multi-user chat system. This framework is distinguished by its real-time adaptive system architecture, which enables dynamic adjustments to facilitation strategies based on ongoing discussion dynamics. Leveraging cosine similarity as a core metric, this approach evaluates the ability of three state-of-the-art LLMs—ChatGPT 4.0, Mistral Large 2, and AI21 Jamba-Instruct—to synthesize consensus proposals that align with participants’ viewpoints. Unlike conventional techniques, the system integrates adaptive facilitation strategies, including clarifying misunderstandings, summarizing discussions, and proposing compromises, enabling the LLMs to refine consensus proposals based on user feedback iteratively. Experimental results indicate that ChatGPT 4.0 achieved the highest alignment with participant opinions and required fewer iterations to reach consensus. A one-way ANOVA confirmed that differences in performance between models were statistically significant. Moreover, descriptive analyses revealed nuanced differences in model behavior across various sustainability-focused discussion topics, including climate action, quality education, good health and well-being, and access to clean water and sanitation. These findings highlight the promise of LLM-driven facilitation for improving collective decision-making processes and underscore the need for further research into robust evaluation metrics, ethical considerations, and cross-cultural adaptability.