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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Trojan Horse or Useful Helper? A Relationship Perspective on Artificial Intelligence Assistants with Humanlike Features
    (2022-3-22) ;
    Alavi, Sascha
    ;
    Artificial intelligence assistants (AIAs) such as Alexa are prevalent in consumers’ homes. Owing to their powerful artificial intelligence, consumers may perceive that AIAs have a mind of their own, that is, they anthropomorphize them. Past marketing research points to beneficial effects of AIA anthropomorphism for consumers and companies, while potential harmful effects have not been empirically explored. In examining both beneficial and harmful effects, this paper adopts a relationship perspective. Indeed, consumers spend large amounts of time with their AIAs, potentially developing a relationship over time that builds on an exchange of benefits and (psychological) costs. A preliminary survey and user interviews, a field study and a field experiment with AIA users show that AIA anthropomorphism may threaten users’ identity, which disempowers them, creates data privacy concerns and ultimately undermines their well-being. These harmful effects particularly emerge in close, long relationships. The field experiment uncovers three empowering interventions which attenuate harmful effects of AIA anthropomorphism in relationships with consumers. With AI-powered technologies taking larger roles in our daily lives, our research highlights key future directions to investigate the permanent ongoing nature of the consumer–AI relationships.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Trojan Horse or Useful Helper? A Relationship Perspective on Artificial Intelligence Assistants with Humanlike Features
    (2022-2-18) ;
    Alavi, Sascha
    ;
    Artificial intelligence assistants (AIAs) such as Alexa are prevalent in consumers’ home. Due to their powerful artificial intelligence, consumers may perceive that AIAs have a mind of their own, that is, they are anthropomorphizing them. Past marketing research points to beneficial effects of AIA anthropomorphism for consumers and companies, while potential harmful effects are less explored. To examine both beneficial and costly effects, the paper adopts a relationship perspective. Indeed, consumers spend large amounts of time with their AIA, potentially developing a relationship over time that builds on an exchange of benefits and (psychological) costs. A field study and a field experiment with AIA users show that AIA anthropomorphism may threaten users’ identity, which disempowers them, creates data privacy concerns and ultimately undermines their well-being. These harmful effects particularly emerge in close, long relationships. The field experiment uncovers three empowering interventions, which attenuate harmful effects of AIA anthropomorphism in relationships with consumers.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Facing Alexa, the powerful lower their guard: anthropomorphization of smart personal assistants decreases privacy concerns for people with high sense of power
    (2020-5-26) ; ;
    Alavi, Sascha
    With rapidly increasing popularity, Smart Personal Assistants (SPA) are becoming prominent characters in our daily lives. Their ubiquity raises concern for data privacy as SPAs may be listening to our most intimate conversations at home. Due to their salient human-like features (e.g., human voice, name) we are inclined to anthropomorphize them. We investigated the influence of anthropomorphization of SPAs on consumer’s privacy concerns and the moderating role of sense of power in this relationship. People with high (low) power exhibited lower (higher) levels of privacy concerns when the perceived anthropomorphization was higher. We suggest that high power increases the perceived control and this illusion of control decreases privacy concerns. We extend this result by showing that lower privacy concerns lead to a greater frequency of use. Finally, we discuss the importance of understanding power in relation to increasingly human-like technologies and ramifications for consumer protection.