Jens Förderer, da Technical University of Munich, vai apresentar Attention Is All They Need? How GenAI-assisted Communication Reshapes Creator-Audience Relationships

Abstract: A widely debated but unexplored promise of GenAI is its ability to enable creators of user-generated content to mass-personalize their audience interactions. Historically, creators faced a trade-off between scalability and personalization. We explore the impact of GenAI in a difference-in-differences study on YouTube, using large-scale panel data on thousands of channels that were provided access to SmartReply, a GenAI assistant for writing replies to viewer comments. Our difference-in-differences design compares Spanish-speaking creators (with SmartReply access) to Portuguese-speaking creators (without access) before and after the rollout. SmartReply had a considerably positive impact, increasing channels’ subscribership by an estimated 3.8% on average. Notably, the effect is not driven by response volume or speed; rather, it derives from improved perceived response quality, reflected in more reply likes. Inspecting textual shifts in creator replies, we find that SmartReply improved clarity (i.e., reduced spelling errors and emoji use) and increased positive sentiment and expressions of appreciation. However, SmartReply’s benefits primarily accrued to creators with limited resources. That is, subscriber growth was driven by small and inexperienced channels, with no detectable improvements for larger or more established ones. Moreover, we observe an unanticipated cost of using GenAI: while SmartReply helps creators expand their subscriber base, new subscribers exhibit lower engagement than those gained organically. In sum, while GenAI can improve creator reach, sustained audience engagement requires additional strategies and deeper investments by creators. These insights advance our theoretical understanding of how GenAI reshapes the nature of creator-audience relationships.