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This research investigates how personal pronouns and gender of AI affect user trust in different contexts.

July 5, 2026

The Relationship Between Personal Pronouns Used by AI and AI Trust of Users

Key Points

This research investigates how personal pronouns and gender of AI affect user trust in different contexts.
Study 1 (N=161) assessed emotional communication context regarding emotion regulation with AI.
Study 2 (N=158) evaluated persuasive communication about the legal drinking age with AI.
Both studies measured the relationship between pronoun usage, agency perception, and AI trust.
In Study 1, female AI using 'we' increased user autonomy and trust.
In Study 2, female AI using 'we' led to lower agency perception, while male AI using 'we' resulted in higher agency perception.
Higher agency perception positively correlated with AI trust.

Abstract

The personal pronouns used by AI and AI gender jointly affect AI trust of users, and this interaction varies by interaction context. Study 1 (N = 161) explored the emotional communication context in which the AI responded to the user’s emotion regulation questions. Findings suggest that when a female AI used the pronoun “we,” it facilitated users’ perceived autonomy and subsequently fostered higher AI trust. Study 2 (N = 158) examined a persuasive communication context in which the AI disputed the user’s opinion about the legal drinking age, revealing that, for the female AI, the pronoun “we” was associated with lower agency perception, while for male AI, the pronoun “we” was associated with higher agency perception. This agency perception subsequently correlated positively with AI trust. In summary, to effectively build AI trust, AI natural language generation should be dynamically calibrated to both the conversational context and the programmed gender persona of the agent.

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