Does AI-Generated Care-Based Message Increase Trust in Government? The Pivotal Role of AI Knowledge in Government Crisis Response

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) presents new opportunities for governments to respond to crises with greater efficiency. However, current studies have paid limited attention to AI’s role in crisis communication and its potential impact on public perceptions of government trust when crisis communication strategies vary. In this study, we conducted a 2 (Disclosure of AI usage: No, Yes) by 3 (Crisis Response Strategies: Instruction-based, Care-based, Integrated) online-between-subject experiment to explore how AI and crisis response strategies influence trust in government. Additionally, we tested the moderating role of AI knowledge to see if the diffusion of AI influenced people’s trust in government in the crisis context. The results reveal that among the crisis response strategies, the integration of instruction-based and care-based approaches elicited the highest level of trust in government. A three-way interaction showed that a higher level of AI knowledge elevated trust for those who saw messages incorporating a care-based approach by generative AI.