Understanding the effect of identity disclosure of humanlike artificial intelligence influencers through watermarking

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology continues to advance, it has become increasingly challenging to distinguish human influencers from AI-generated influencer personas. In response, the government has introduced watermarking as a measure to ensure transparency in the disclosure of influencers’ identities. Despite the importance of this issue, there has been a lack of research on the topic. To fill this gap, the present study aims to examine the effects of watermark disclosure of AI influencers’ identity and its influence on consumers’ purchase intentions, particularly in relation to the nature of the message being conveyed. Drawing on multidimensional persuasion knowledge and construal level theory, this study conducted a 2 (watermark: presence vs. absence) by 2 (message type: utilitarian vs. hedonic) between-subjects experiment and found that consumers exhibited higher purchase intentions when a watermark was present, and the message was utilitarian rather than hedonic. Furthermore, this interaction effect was sequentially mediated by consumer skepticism and dislike. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Advertising

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Park, Se Il

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nelson, Michelle R.
• Sar, Sela
• Ham, Chang-Dae

• Ai Advertising
• Watermark
• Ai Influencer
• Identity Disclosure

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Se Il Park

Language dc:language

eng, en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127230

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F127230