A new age for (generative) sports reporting: Testing the effect of AI ethics policies on the perceived trustworthiness and financial value of AI-generated sports news

It is becoming more common for established news organizations to begin using generative AI for the production of news. How do readers respond to these news organizations when AI has first been introduced, and can AI news disclosures be used to improve the trustworthiness and financial value of AI content? An online experiment ( N = 713) was conducted in the immediate aftermath of ESPN introducing AI generated news to their web site. Study results found that exposure to an AI disclosure before exposure to sports news written by AI improved perceptions of news trustworthiness relative to sports news without preceding AI disclosure. Mediation analyses reveal that perceptions of AI disclosure, supervision, helpfulness and ethicality mediated effects of the AI disclosure on message trustworthiness and the perceived financial value of AI-written news. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.