Opportunity or Risk? The Effect of AI Anthropomorphism on Trust in AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving from an information and decision-support tool into an agentic system capable of accessing external tools, handling local files, and acting with limited human supervision.Trust is essential for human–AI collaboration, but insufficient trust may impede use, whereas excessive trust may encourage delegation and dependence.Prior work has linked anthropomorphic cues to trust, but findings remain mixed, with some studies reporting increased trust and others documenting discomfort or defensive responses. Moreover, most studies have treated trust as a unitary construct, overlooking differences between trust attitudes and trust behavior. The psychological processes through which anthropomorphism affects trust, particularly the distinct roles of opportunity and risk perceptions, remain poorly understood. To address these gaps, the present research examined whether AI anthropomorphism predicts trust attitudes and behavior, whether opportunity and risk perceptions mediate these associations, and whether opportunity perception moderates the effect of anthropomorphism.