Most people do not realize when a personal message they receive was written by AI, study finds
Quick Insights
The Bottom Line
Most people cannot detect AI-generated personal messages and negatively judge senders who disclose AI use.
How This Affects You
You might unknowingly receive AI-generated personal messages and could be judged negatively if you disclose using AI for communication.
AI Summary
Two new experiments, conducted by Jiaqi Zhu and the article's author, found that most people do not consider a personal message to be AI-generated, even if they use AI themselves. The study involved over 1,300 U.S.-based participants, ages 18 to 84, who evaluated AI-generated messages like apologies. When participants knew a message was AI-generated, they rated the sender negatively, using words like "lazy" or "insincere," a phenomenon termed an "AI disclosure penalty." However, participants who were not informed about authorship formed positive impressions, similar to those told messages were human-written, showing a "complete lack of skepticism." This unawareness creates a moral dilemma where secret AI users face no detection risk, while those who disclose AI use suffer reputational damage.
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