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Easing Access, Eroding Authenticity: The Trade-Off of Digital Human Avatars in Online Dating Platforms
Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly allows people to delegate not only tasks and decisions but also their self-representation. Digital human avatars, which are photorealistic conversational agents built from a person’s own photos, videos, and self-descriptions, can now interact with others on that person’s behalf. We examine what happens when a computer stands in for a specific human being in a context where relationships are at stake and authenticity is paramount: online dating. Drawing on the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm, AI delegation research, and authenticity theory, we conceptualize delegated self-representation and identify authenticity of representation as its pivotal evaluative criterion. We conducted an online experiment (N = 196) with a live avatar restricted to the profile owner’s own information. Delegation made participants more comfortable asking sensitive questions but reduced the perceived authenticity of representation, which fully mediated a decline in the encounter’s perceived value for getting to know the person. We extend CASA from computers as social actors to computers as representatives of specific social actors. We also contribute to human-computer interaction research by establishing authenticity of representation as a success criterion for AI that stands in for people.
Bio: Antino Kim is an Associate Professor of Information Systems and Institute for Entrepreneurship & Competitive Enterprise (IECE) Faculty Fellow at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. He earned his Ph.D. in Information Systems from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. His research interests include human-AI interaction, AI-mediated communication, misinformation and social media, intellectual property and copyright, and markets for information goods. His research has appeared in Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Management Science, Marketing Science, MIS Quarterly, among other outlets.