The Impact of Human-Likeness and Self-Disclosure on Message Acceptance in Virtual AI Influencers

Virtual AI-generated Influencers (VAIIs) are increasingly being used by corporations and public agencies, raising questions about how their visual design and communication strategies impact end-users' propensity to accept the messages they deliver. We examined the impact of human-likeness (how close the VAII visually resembles a human) and self-disclosure (whether the message contains personal information) on message acceptance, alongside dispositional factors like empathy and anthropomorphising tendencies. In a mixed-methods experiment, participants (N=120) watched short-form videos featuring VAIIs of varying human-likeness (High/Moderate-High/Moderate-Low/Low) and self-disclosure (present/absent). We observed the strongest message acceptance from the VAIIs with the lowest human-likeness, and message rejection for VAIIs with moderate to low human-likeness. Additionally, participants' message acceptance was influenced by their empathy tendencies. Our qualitative analysis revealed further insights into participants' perceptions of the human-likeness of VAIIs, their discomfort with self-disclosure, and their tendency to anthropomorphise VAIIs. These findings provide important implications for the design of VAIIs.