Anthropomorphism on Risk Perception: The Role of Trust and Domain Knowledge in Decision-Support AI

TL;DR

This study investigates how anthropomorphic design in AI influences risk perception through trust, showing that domain knowledge moderates these effects, with implications for designing responsible AI systems.

Contribution

It introduces a psychological model linking anthropomorphism, trust, and risk perception, validated through a large-scale experiment, highlighting the moderating role of domain knowledge.

Findings

Anthropomorphism increases trust and reduces perceived risk.

Domain knowledge moderates the trust-risk perception relationship.

Design implications for responsible AI are discussed.

Abstract

Anthropomorphic design is routinely used to make conversational agents more approachable and engaging. Yet its influence on users' perceptions remains poorly understood. Drawing on psychological theories, we propose that anthropomorphism influences risk perception via two complementary forms of trust, and that domain knowledge moderates these relationships. To test our model, we conducted a large-scale online experiment (N = 1,256) on a financial decision-support system implementing different anthropomorphic designs. We found that anthropomorphism indirectly reduces risk perception by increasing both cognitive and affective trust. Domain knowledge moderates these paths: participants with low financial knowledge experience a negative indirect effect of perceived anthropomorphism on risk perception via cognitive trust, whereas those with high financial knowledge exhibit a positive direct and indirect effect. We discuss theoretical contributions to human-AI interaction and design implications for calibrating trust in anthropomorphic decision-support systems for responsible AI.