High hopes, hard falls: consumer expectations and reactions to AI-human collaboration in advertising

This paper explores what people expect from AI-human collaboration in a creative domain and how they react when the outcomes fall short of those expectations. Study 1 utilized open-ended questions and content analysis to establish that consumers expect ads created through AI-human collaboration to be of superior quality compared to those created through AI-AI or human-human collaboration. This expectation arises from consumers’ beliefs in enhanced informational task management, the generation of innovative ideas, improved creative research, and greater efficiency in collaboration when AI and humans work together. Given these high expectations, Study 2, conducted in an experimental setting, reveals that consumers evaluate subpar ads produced through AI-human collaboration more negatively due to negative expectancy disconfirmation. Study 3 further examines individual differences as a moderating factor, demonstrating that the negative impact of expectancy disconfirmation is more pronounced among individuals with higher expectations of AI-human collaboration superiority.