The Influence of AI-Based Chatbots and Their Design on Users’ Trust and Information Sharing in Online Loan Applications

Based on recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots are now increasingly offered as an alternative source of customer service. For their uptake user trust in critical. However, little is known about how these interfaces fundamentally influence trust perceptions. In particular, it’s unclear what exactly causes perceptual differences - the change towards a conversational interface or the usage of anthropomorphic design elements. In this study, an online experiment with 160 participants was conducted to examine the differential effects of conversational interaction and anthropomorphism on trust in the interface or the provider within the context of online loan applications. The results show that both treatment conditions affect trust in the interface and the provider by increasing perceptions of social presence. Meanwhile, trust in the interface significantly effects the intention to share information, while trust in the provider has no effect on behavioral intention.