Human versus AI news anchors: A survey study on audience satisfaction and the emotional connection

As artificial intelligence becomes widely used in the digital newsroom, AI virtual anchors have been widely accepted, leading to the alteration of the traditional model of news presentation. In this study, perceptions, satisfaction and emotional attachment of the Chinese news viewers to the AI news anchors. A questionnaire of 343 Beijing residents was collected as primary data. Frameworks like Diffusion of Innovations (DoI) and Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) have been core theoretical foundation. The findings suggest that credibility scepticism, moderate acceptance, and low emotional connectivity with AI anchors were high. The perceived authenticity and emotional connectivity had a significant correlation with the overall satisfaction of the audience, and the acceptance patterns were mediated by demographic factors. Human communicative values such as trust, emotional appeal, and responsibility proved to be the most crucial factors in determining the interests of the audience. The implications of these findings can be applied to news organizations that are planning to use AI anchors in a manner that would not compromise the credibility and trust of their audience.