Social influence can undermine the wisdom of crowds effect, as shown by experimental evidence. The study demonstrates that even mild social influence can reduce the accuracy of group estimates in simple tasks. In the experiment, participants were asked to estimate factual questions and could revise their answers based on others' responses. The study compared the accuracy and convergence of estimates across three conditions: no information, aggregated information, and full information. The results showed that social influence reduces the diversity of opinions without improving accuracy, moves the truth to the edges of the estimate range, and increases individual confidence despite no improvement in accuracy. These effects undermine the wisdom of crowds effect. The study highlights the importance of understanding how social influence affects collective decision-making and the reliability of group estimates. The findings have implications for various fields, including economics, politics, and social sciences, where group decisions are common. The study also emphasizes the need for careful consideration of social influence in decision-making processes to avoid misleading outcomes.Social influence can undermine the wisdom of crowds effect, as shown by experimental evidence. The study demonstrates that even mild social influence can reduce the accuracy of group estimates in simple tasks. In the experiment, participants were asked to estimate factual questions and could revise their answers based on others' responses. The study compared the accuracy and convergence of estimates across three conditions: no information, aggregated information, and full information. The results showed that social influence reduces the diversity of opinions without improving accuracy, moves the truth to the edges of the estimate range, and increases individual confidence despite no improvement in accuracy. These effects undermine the wisdom of crowds effect. The study highlights the importance of understanding how social influence affects collective decision-making and the reliability of group estimates. The findings have implications for various fields, including economics, politics, and social sciences, where group decisions are common. The study also emphasizes the need for careful consideration of social influence in decision-making processes to avoid misleading outcomes.