Understanding AI Advertising From the Consumer Perspective

Abstract

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been used to create advertising messages. This study examined the factors that influence consumers’ overall appreciation of AI-created advertisements. The findings indicate that, in addition to its direct effect on consumer reactions to AI-created advertisements, consumers’ perceived objectivity of the general advertisement creation process positively influences machine heuristic—a rule of thumb that machines are more secure and trustworthy than humans. This effect boosted consumer appreciation of AI-created advertisements. Consumers’ perceived objectivity of advertisement creation negatively influenced perceived eeriness of AI advertising, which jeopardized consumer appreciation of AI-created advertisements. Consumers’ feelings of uneasiness with robots were found to have a positive influence on both machine heuristic and perceived eeriness of AI advertising.