Use of AI for Public Health Messages: Does Knowledge of AI Impact Perceived Effectiveness and Credibility?
ABSTRACT
Background:
Despite public health efforts, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., disproportionately impacting underrepresented populations. Public policies are needed to improve health equity in tobacco-related outcomes. One strategy for promoting public support for these policies is through health messaging. Improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology presents a new opportunity to create tailored policy messages quickly; however, there is limited research on how the public might perceive the use of AI for public health messages.
Objective:
This study examined how knowledge of using AI impacts video outcomes associated with a tobacco control policy video.
Methods:
A sample of U.S. adults (n=500) was shown the same AI-generated video that focused on a tobacco control policy. Participants were then randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions where they were: 1) told the narrator of the video was AI, 2) told the narrator of the video was human, 3) told it was unknown whether the narrator was AI or human, or 4) not provided with information about the narrator.
Results:
Results showed video rating, perceived effectiveness, and perceived credibility did not significantly differ among the conditions. However, the average speaker rating was significantly higher (p = .001) when participants were told the narrator of the health message was human, (M = 3.65, SD = .905) compared to the other conditions. Notably, positive AI attitudes were highest among those given no information provided about the narrator; though this difference was also not statistically significant (M = 3.04, SD = .902).
Conclusions:
Results suggest that AI may impact perceptions towards the speaker of a video; however, more research is needed to understand if these impacts would occur over time and after multiple exposures to content. More in-depth qualitative research may also further explain why potential differences may have occurred in speaker ratings. Public health professionals and researchers should further consider the ethics and cost-effectiveness of using AI for health messaging.
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Copyright
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