Who Sells Better? Digital Human Presenter Versus Cartoon AI Presenter in E-commerce Live-Streaming

Abstract

AI technology has been introduced on e-commerce live-streaming as a substitute for human presenters who are expensive and constrained by work time. However, the cartoon avatar AI presenters that are commonly used today are less effective in driving sales. We propose that increasing human likeness is a practical method to boost sales, particularly for products with hedonic values and rich sensory attributes. The results show that a digital human presenter (an AI agent with a highly human realistic face and voice) sold better compared to a cartoon avatar presenter across a range of different types of products and that this effect is driven both by affect (by increasing positive emotions) and cognition (by improving product quality evaluations). We extend current research on AI agent design to the live-streaming context and show that the highly realistic appearance of digital humans, as a powerful design, can enhance positive consumer responses to AI agents through two parallel theoretical routes (emotional and cognitive). These results can help e-commerce platforms and brands improve their AI technology and obtain expected business benefits.