Will AI Console Me when I Lose my Pet? Understanding Perceptions of AI-Mediated Email Writing

Large language models are increasingly mediating, modifying, and even generating messages for users, but the receivers of these messages may not be aware of the involvement of AI. To examine this emerging direction of AI-Mediated Communication (AI-MC), we investigate people’s perceptions of AI written messages. We analyze how such perceptions change in accordance with the interpersonal emphasis of a given message. We conducted both large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews to investigate how a diverse set of factors influence people’s perceived trust in AI-mediated writing of emails. We found that people’s trust in email writers decreased when they were told that AI was involved in the writing process. Surprisingly trust increased when AI was used for writing more interpersonal emails (as opposed to more transactional ones). Our study provides insights regarding how people perceive AI-MC and has practical design implications on building AI-based products to aid human interlocutors in communication1.