AI summaries in online search influence users' attitudes
Yiwei Xu, Saloni Dash, Sungha Kang, Wang Liao, and Emma S. Spiro

TL;DR
This study investigates how AI-generated summaries in online search results influence user attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions, highlighting the importance of placement, framing, and user trust in shaping public opinion.
Contribution
It provides experimental evidence on the impact of AI summaries on user attitudes and identifies factors that modulate this influence, such as placement and issue familiarity.
Findings
AI summaries align user attitudes with summary stance
Top placement of summaries causes stronger attitude shifts
Perceived usefulness varies with health harm emphasis
Abstract
This study examined how AI-generated summaries, which have become visually prominent in online search results, affect how users think about different issues. In a preregistered randomized controlled experiment, participants (N = 2,004) viewed mock search result pages varying in the presence (vs. absence), placement (top vs. middle), and stance (benefit-framed vs. harm-framed) of AI-generated summaries across four publicly debated topics. Compared to a no-summary control group, participants exposed to AI-generated summaries reported issue attitudes, behavioral intentions, and policy support that aligned more closely with the AI summary stance. The summaries placed at the top of the page produced stronger shifts in users' issue attitudes (but not behavioral intentions or policy support) than those placed at the middle of the page. We also observed moderating effects from issue familiarity…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMisinformation and Its Impacts · Health Literacy and Information Accessibility · Media Influence and Health
