From "AI" to Probabilistic Automation: How Does Anthropomorphization of Technical Systems Descriptions Influence Trust?

TL;DR

This study examines how anthropomorphized descriptions of AI systems affect trust, finding no overall increase in trust from anthropomorphization, but highlighting that product type and demographics influence perceptions.

Contribution

It categorizes four types of anthropomorphization and empirically investigates their impact on trust through a large survey, providing nuanced insights into public perceptions of AI descriptions.

Findings

No overall trust increase from anthropomorphization

Product type and demographic factors influence trust perceptions

Anthropomorphization effects vary across different groups

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of anthropomorphized descriptions of so-called "AI" (artificial intelligence) systems on people's self-assessment of trust in the system. Building on prior work, we define four categories of anthropomorphization (1. Properties of a cognizer, 2. Agency, 3. Biological metaphors, and 4. Properties of a communicator). We use a survey-based approach (n=954) to investigate whether participants are likely to trust one of two (fictitious) "AI" systems by randomly assigning people to see either an anthropomorphized or a de-anthropomorphized description of the systems. We find that participants are no more likely to trust anthropomorphized over de-anthropmorphized product descriptions overall. The type of product or system in combination with different anthropomorphic categories appears to exert greater influence on trust than anthropomorphizing language alone, and age is the only demographic factor that significantly correlates with people's preference for anthropomorphized or de-anthropomorphized descriptions. When elaborating on their choices, participants highlight factors such as lesser of two evils, lower or higher stakes contexts, and human favoritism as driving motivations when choosing between product A and B, irrespective of whether they saw an anthropomorphized or a de-anthropomorphized description of the product. Our results suggest that "anthropomorphism" in "AI" descriptions is an aggregate concept that may influence different groups differently, and provide nuance to the discussion of whether anthropomorphization leads to higher trust and over-reliance by the general public in systems sold as "AI".