Fear of negative evaluation and technology-acceptance perceptions in human–AI interaction: a study on intelligent chat services

Fear of negative evaluation (FNE) is typically conceptualized as a concern about interpersonal judgment, but as artificial intelligence (AI) systems become more interactive, users may also anticipate evaluation from AI itself. This study examined whether FNE from humans (FNEH) and from AI (FNEA) are differentially associated with technology-acceptance perceptions. University students and faculty (N = 203) completed parallel measures of FNEH and FNEA, along with measures of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), and perceived enjoyment (PE) for intelligent chat services. Structural equation modeling showed that FNEH was negatively associated with PU and PE, whereas FNEA was negatively associated with PEOU and PE. The two PE associations did not remain significant after Holm adjustment. Direct comparisons showed that FNEH and FNEA differed significantly only for PEOU, with FNEA showing the stronger negative association. Their associations with PU and PE did not differ significantly. These findings suggest that the source of anticipated evaluation may be particularly relevant to perceived ease of interacting with AI. The study extends research on FNE to human–AI interaction and highlights the importance of examining evaluative concerns in users’ perceptions of AI-based technologies.