I Can’t Take This Anymore! Understanding the Relationship Between Personality Traits and Tolerance of Generative AI Hallucinations

The use of generative AI has increased drastically in recent years, offering transformative potential in creativity, productivity, and decision-making across various domains. However, concerns are growing among practitioners and academics about its tendency to produce inaccurate or nonsensical outputs—a phenomenon known as generative AI hallucinations. While scholars have begun exploring this phenomenon, most of the existing research focuses on technical issues and solutions. This research takes a behavioral approach to examine the association between individual personality traits and tolerance of generative AI hallucinations. Drawing on Error Management Theory and the Big Five personality traits, we examine how individuals with different personality traits tolerate generative AI hallucinations. The study contributes to calls from management journals to investigate the challenges associated with generative AI use. Our findings provide important theoretical implications and offer actionable insights for engineering managers seeking to implement generative AI.