Readers’ perception of computer-generated news: Credibility, expertise, and readability

We conducted an online experiment to study people’s perception of automated computer-written news. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 design, we varied the article topic (sports, finance; within-subjects) and both the articles’ actual and declared source (human-written, computer-written; between-subjects). Nine hund...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournalism (London, England) Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 595 - 610
Main Authors Graefe, Andreas, Haim, Mario, Haarmann, Bastian, Brosius, Hans-Bernd
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.05.2018
Subjects
Algorithmic journalism
Turing test
automated journalism
news perception
robot journalism
journalism ethics
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Summary:We conducted an online experiment to study people’s perception of automated computer-written news. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 design, we varied the article topic (sports, finance; within-subjects) and both the articles’ actual and declared source (human-written, computer-written; between-subjects). Nine hundred eighty-six subjects rated two articles on credibility, readability, and journalistic expertise. Varying the declared source had small but consistent effects: subjects rated articles declared as human written always more favorably, regardless of the actual source. Varying the actual source had larger effects: subjects rated computer-written articles as more credible and higher in journalistic expertise but less readable. Across topics, subjects’ perceptions did not differ. The results provide conservative estimates for the favorability of computer-written news, which will further increase over time and endorse prior calls for establishing ethics of computer-written news.
ISSN:1464-8849
1741-3001
DOI:10.1177/1464884916641269