We Are Equally Vulnerable? An Examination of the Third-Person Effect in AI-Generated Misinformation

Misinformation is a pervasive problem in the social media era, undermining social trust, while the emergence of AI-generated misinformation further exacerbates this issue and threatens social order. This study employs the third-person effect as a theoretical framework and collected 726 questionnaire responses to examine individuals’ perceptions of AI-generated misinformation. When exploring the relationships among misinformation exposure, social undesirability, perceived realism, and AI literacy with respect to perceived effects on oneself and on others, individuals recognize that they themselves are also easily influenced by AI-generated misinformation. Furthermore, perceived effects on oneself and others are positively correlated with corrective actions, while no significant relationship is observed with restrictive actions, thus providing suggestions for individual involvement in combating AI-generated misinformation.