Do Users Really Care? Evaluating the User Perception of Disclosing AI-Generated Content on Credibility in (Sports) Journalism

AI-generated journalism (robot journalism) enables the automated creation of news articles through Artificial Intelligence (AI). Especially in sports reporting robot journalism enables providers to publish standardized match reports quickly after sporting events (e.g. soccer games). This study examines the influence of disclosing the type of origin (human and AI) on the perception of the credibility of sports reporting. For this purpose, an quantitative online survey was conducted with 154 participants, where two match reports about the same soccer game were compared: One of these reports was written by a journalist, while the other was AI-generated. The participants were divided into three groups, with varying disclosures on the type of origin (no disclosure, correct disclosure, manipulated disclosure). The analysis showed that the origin disclosures had no significant influence on credibility. Both expertise and trustworthiness were rated similarly. Since readers are indifferent about the source of information, this suggests that the use of AI in sports reporting can be useful to increase efficiency. However, in a wider sense, this indifference poses challenges to policymakers trying to contain the spread of misinformation and fake news based on the use of AI.