From Teacher to Algorithm: Teacher Endorsement and Student Acceptance of AI-Generated Content Within the Trust Transfer Theory Framework

The integration of AI-generated content into higher education has intensified interest in how students form and calibrate trust toward algorithmic outputs and whether pedagogical relationships can serve as conduits for that trust. Grounded in Trust Transfer Theory, this between-subjects randomized experimental study (N = 320) investigated whether teacher endorsement shapes students’ perceptions of AI-generated educational content across four dimensions: Perceived AI Competence, Academic Integrity, Perceived Human-Mediated Reliability, and Behavioral Intention to adopt. Participants from Saudi Arabian universities were randomly assigned to an endorsed or non-endorsed vignette condition and responded to a validated 13-item Trust and Acceptance Scale. Independent-samples t-tests confirmed statistically significant differences across all four dimensions in favor of the endorsed condition, with effect sizes ranging from small to large, and findings remained robust after controlling for gender via ANCOVA. Within-condition regression analyses further established Perceived Human-Mediated Reliability as a structurally stable positive predictor of trust outcomes in both conditions, with predictive power consistently amplified under endorsement. Postgraduate students placed greater emphasis on human oversight, while no disciplinary differences emerged, confirming the cross-disciplinary universality of the trust transfer mechanism. These findings are consistent with positioning the teacher as a trust guarantor in AI-mediated learning environments and carry direct implications for pedagogical design and institutional AI governance.