Face the Uncanny: The Effects of Doppelganger Talking Head Avatars on Affect-Based Trust Toward Artificial Intelligence Technology are Mediated by Uncanny Valley Perceptions

This experiment (N = 228) examined how exposure to a talking head doppelganger created by an artificial intelligence (AI) program influenced affect-based trust toward AIs. Using a 3 (talking head featuring the participant's or a stranger's face, audio-only condition) by 2 (pro-AI pitch and anti-AI pitch playback) design, we uncovered that exposure to a talking head featuring the participant's face instead of a stranger's face increased uncanny valley perceptions. Furthermore, uncanny valley perceptions mediated the link between exposure to a talking head with the participant's face on affect-based trust. Overall, exposure to a doppelganger talking head, who delivered a persuasive pitch, triggered discomfort on the participant whose features were sourced to craft a synthetic talking head, which in turn decreased affect-based trust attributed to AIs. This phenomenon is rooted in basic psychological mechanisms that underpin the uncanny valley hypothesis. Future studies may test for these findings across different platforms and also provide evidence regarding user mental processing.