AI Persona, Service Consumption, and User Intent Entropy: Field Experimental Evidence from an LLM Platform

Abstract

Problem definition: Firms deploying large language model services must decide how their AI communicates, not just what it can do. We examine how a relational persona - warmer, more empathetic and more engaging than a non-relational persona - affects service consumption and the evolution of user objectives. Methodology/results: In a randomized field experiment with 9,586 newly registered users, we hold the underlying model and service capabilities constant. The relational persona increases interactions (sessions, +8.1%; duration, +10.6%; chat rounds, +24.2%; intent entropy, +5.8%) and outputs (files, +12.3%; distinct goals, +12.1%). Effects vary by entry intent. First-session effects are insignificant for Task Execution users. Socialization and Knowledge Exploration users show similar increases in chat rounds: Socialization increases intent entropy without more outputs, whereas Knowledge Exploration increases outputs without higher intent entropy. Modeling intent dynamics as a transition process, we find higher intent transition entropy for Socialization (+11.8%) but higher intent continuation probability for Knowledge Exploration (+12.8%), suggesting greater conversational breadth and persistence, respectively. In subsequent use, the relational persona increases aggregate chat rounds and outputs across all entry intents. Session count rises by 12.2% for Task Execution and 49.4% for Socialization, but not significantly for Knowledge Exploration. Effects on session count and intent entropy strengthen over time, whereas output effects remain stable. Managerial implications: AI persona is an operational design lever, not merely a presentation feature. Because more interactions do not uniformly generate more outputs, firms should evaluate interactions and outputs separately and consider matching persona to user intent, especially when added interactions consume costly computing resources.