The Transparency Dilemma: An Experiment on How AI Disclosures Affect Credibility Perceptions and Engagement Across Topics

The media sector’s credibility has been under significant
scrutiny due to a rise in misinformation and the advent of
generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies, which
pose a further threat to its credibility. Amid these
challenges, transparency about the use of AI has been
championed as a key solution to restore and promote
credibility. Research reveals mixed reactions regarding the
transparency of AI-generated content. While some studies
indicate that AI-written news might be perceived as more
credible than its human-produced counterparts, others find
that content labelled as AI impacts credibility negatively.
This study clarifies the impact of AI labels on
individuals’ credibility perceptions by examining the
influence of different news topics. Does the usage of AI
transparency labels invoke more concern about news
credibility in the context of political news compared to
non-political news? The effectiveness of transparency cues
may be different when it concerns more serious issues, such
as political news, versus less important non-political
news, such as culture. We conducted a 2×2 survey experiment
(N= 207) to investigate the impact of AI disclosures in the
context of political news on individuals’ perceptions of
source credibility, perceived manipulation, and sharing
intentions. Overall, AI as a news source is considered less
credible, no matter the topic, yet the AI label does not
increase feelings of manipulation. When it comes to sharing
intention, this is negatively affected by the AI label, but
only in the case of political news. These findings can help
news organisations and policymakers to develop meaningful
transparency labels.