[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-detail-255043-en":53,"doc-seo-255043-105":75},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":54},{"doc_id":55,"user_id":56,"nickname":57,"user_avatar":58,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":60,"doc_content":61,"file_id":62,"file_url":63,"file_type":64,"file_size":65,"view_count":9,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":66,"language":67,"language_code":68,"site_id":69,"html_lang":68,"table_of_contents":70,"faqs":71,"seo_title":72,"seo_description":60,"update_tm":73,"read_time":74},255043,2336478951081,"Ben ","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Blissful (A)Ignorance - Ignorance of Generative AI in Written Communication","As Generative AI tools spread in everyday interpersonal communication, their influence on social perception becomes increasingly important. Grounded in signaling theory, the study tests whether GenAI use weakens the perceived credibility of written signals by lowering writing effort and limiting verification. A pre-registered large-scale online experiment (N=647) compares personal versus professional and close others versus strangers under known and uncertain GenAI use. Disclosures of AI-generated messages produce strong negative impression effects, while uninformed recipients show no skepticism and form overly positive judgments, even when potential GenAI use is only highlighted.","Blissful (A)Ignorance:  \nPeople form overly positive impressions of others based on their written messages, despite wide-scale adoption of Generative AI  \nJiaqi Zhua & Andras Molnarb*  \naUniversity of Michigan, Department of Statistics  \n1085 South University Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107  \nEmail: [jiaqizhu@umich.edu](jiaqizhu@umich.edu)  \nbUniversity of Michigan, Department of Psychology  \n530 Church Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109–1043 Email: [andrasm@umich.edu](andrasm@umich.edu)  \n*corresponding author  \nDeclaration of interests  \nThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.  \nBlissful (A)Ignorance:  \nPeople form overly positive impressions of others based on their written messages,  \ndespite wide-scale adoption of Generative AI  \nAbstract  \nAs the use of Generative AI (GenAI) tools becomes more prevalent in interpersonal communication, understanding their impact on social perceptions is crucial. According to signaling theory, GenAI may undermine the credibility of social signals conveyed in writing, since it reduces the cost of writing and makes it hard to verify the authenticity of messages. Using a pre-registered large-scale online experiment (N = 647; Prolific), featuring scenarios in a range of communication contexts (personal vs. professional; close others vs. strangers), we explored how senders’ use of GenAI influenced recipients’ impressions of senders, both when GenAI use was known or uncertain. Consistent with past work, we found strong negative effects on social impressions when disclosing that a message was AI-generated, compared to when the same message was human-written. However, under the more realistic condition when potential GenAI use was not explicitly highlighted, recipients did not exhibit any skepticism towards senders, and these “uninformed” impressions were virtually indistinguishable from those of fully human-written messages. Even when we highlighted the potential (but uncertain) use of GenAI, recipients formed overly positive impressions. These results are especially striking given that 46% of our sample admitted having used such tools for writing messages, just within the past two weeks. Our findings put past work in a new light: While social judgments can be substantially affected when GenAI use is explicitly disclosed, this information may not be readily available in more realistic communication settings, making recipients blissfully ignorant about others’ potential use of GenAI.  \nKeywords  \ncommunication; Generative AI; ignorance; social impression; social signaling; uncertainty  \nHighlights  \n● Examine the impact of GenAI use on social impressions in written communication  \n● Large-scale online experiment (N= 647; Prolific) featuring 4 hypothetical scenarios  \n● People form negative impressions when they know that messages are AI-generated  \n● When uncertain or uninformed about AI use, people form overly positive impressions  \n● People remain blissfully ignorant, despite 46% having used GenAI to write messages  \n1. Introduction  \nAccording to a nationally representative survey conducted in August 2024, about 39% of the U.S. population aged 18-64 is already using Generative AI, most commonly ChatGPT, with 10.6% reporting daily usage at work (Bick et al., 2024) . As Bick et al. (2024) highlight, the adoption of Generative AI has been quicker than that of personal computers or the Internet. This rapid adoption has been widely documented across age groups, disciplines, and occupations, including but not limited to office workers (Humlum & Vestergaard, 2024), middle and highschool students (Zhu et al., 2024), STEM researchers (Van Noorden & Perkel, 2023), humanities researchers (Dedema & Ma, 2024), medical students (Zhang et al., 2024), and medical practitioners (Blease et al., 2024) .  \nIn addition to the widespread adoption of Generative AI for personal and professional use, thes","cbCaikTt2Ie0Ocy4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikTt2Ie0Ocy4","pdf",815769,37,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n## Highlights\n# Introduction","[{\"question\":\"How does disclosed GenAI use affect recipients' social impressions?\",\"answer\":\"Recipients form strong negative impressions when they know a message was AI-generated compared with the same message being written by a human.\"},{\"question\":\"What happens to recipients' skepticism when GenAI use is unknown or not highlighted?\",\"answer\":\"When potential GenAI use is not explicitly highlighted, recipients show no skepticism and their impressions closely match those of fully human-written messages.\"},{\"question\":\"Why do the results emphasize “blissful ignorance”?\",\"answer\":\"Even with substantial adoption—46% of the sample reporting recent GenAI use—recipients may lack the information needed to adjust their judgments in realistic settings, leading to overly positive impressions.\"}]","Blissful (A)Ignorance - Ignorance of Generative AI in Written Communication | PDF",1789284435,13,{"code":4,"msg":76,"data":77},"ok",{"site_id":69,"language":68,"slug":78,"title":59,"keywords":79,"description":60,"schema_data":80,"social_meta":136,"head_meta":138,"extra_data":140,"updated_unix":73},"blissful-aignorance-ignorance-of-generative-ai-in-written-communication","",{"@graph":81,"@context":135},[82,98,118],{"@type":83,"itemListElement":84},"BreadcrumbList",[85,89,92,95],{"item":86,"name":87,"@type":88,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":90,"name":10,"@type":88,"position":91},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":93,"name":51,"@type":88,"position":94},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":96,"name":59,"@type":88,"position":97},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/blissful-aignorance-ignorance-of-generative-ai-in-written-communication/255043/",4,{"url":96,"name":59,"@type":99,"image":100,"author":105,"headline":59,"publisher":107,"fileFormat":110,"inLanguage":68,"description":60,"dateModified":111,"datePublished":112,"encodingFormat":110,"isAccessibleForFree":113,"interactionStatistic":114},"DigitalDocument",{"url":101,"@type":102,"width":103,"height":104},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/blissful-aignorance-ignorance-of-generative-ai-in-written-communication/255043.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":57,"@type":106},"Person",{"url":86,"name":108,"@type":109},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-20","2026-09-13",true,{"@type":115,"interactionType":116,"userInteractionCount":91},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":117},"ViewAction",{"@type":119,"mainEntity":120},"FAQPage",[121,127,131],{"name":122,"@type":123,"acceptedAnswer":124},"How does disclosed GenAI use affect recipients' social impressions?","Question",{"text":125,"@type":126},"Recipients form strong negative impressions when they know a message was AI-generated compared with the same message being written by a human.","Answer",{"name":128,"@type":123,"acceptedAnswer":129},"What happens to recipients' skepticism when GenAI use is unknown or not highlighted?",{"text":130,"@type":126},"When potential GenAI use is not explicitly highlighted, recipients show no skepticism and their impressions closely match those of fully human-written messages.",{"name":132,"@type":123,"acceptedAnswer":133},"Why do the results emphasize “blissful ignorance”?",{"text":134,"@type":126},"Even with substantial adoption—46% of the sample reporting recent GenAI use—recipients may lack the information needed to adjust their judgments in realistic settings, leading to overly positive impressions.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":96,"og:type":137,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":108,"og:description":60},"article",{"robots":139,"canonical":96},"index,follow",{"doc_id":55,"site_id":69}]