Recently, Harvard Business Review published a story featuring Chiara Longoni, Assistant Professor of Marketing, and her research on artificial intelligence and consumer behavior.
The research explores what is known as the “word-of-machine effect,” where customers view AI as more competent than humans when giving advice. She looks at the increased role of AI on decision making and the impact its recommendations have on successful customer transactions:
“Our experiments suggest that if someone is focused on utilitarian and functional qualities, then, from a marketer’s perspective, the word of a machine is more effective than the word of human recommenders. For someone focused on experiential and sensory qualities, human recommenders are more effective.”
This piece highlights the findings of several field experiments that gauged participants’ opinions of AI recommendations in several decision-making scenarios, as well as intervention methods to curb incorrect beliefs about the competency of AI recommendations.