The Impact of AI-Generated Content on Trust and Authenticity in Social Media Communication: A Study of Three Australian Case Studies
TL;DR
The findings suggest that generative AI has reshaped social media communication by improving efficiency and personalization while disrupting authenticity assessment, and sustainable AI integration requires stronger governance, platform transparency, and human oversight to maintain communication credibility.
Abstract
The robust growth of generative artificial intelligence (AI), especially large language models and image-generation systems, has greatly shaped communication practices on social media. In this context, AI-generated content has become widely adopted by businesses, media organizations, influencers, and individual users to efficiently create text, images, videos, and interactive content. While these technologies boost creativity and communication productivity, they also introduce ethical concerns regarding transparency, authenticity, misinformation, and public trust. This study investigates how AI-generated content influences trust and authenticity in social media communication through a qualitative interpretive case study approach. Three representative cases, the Georgie Purcell AI image controversy, the AI-generated "Aboriginal Steve Irwin" incident, and the Jeanswest AI-generated advertising backlash, are investigated using secondary sources including academic literature, news reports, organizational statements, and public responses. Based on this analytical framework, AI ethics principles of transparency, accountability, fairness, and human oversight are applied to guide the analysis. The findings suggest that generative AI has reshaped social media communication by improving efficiency and personalization while disrupting authenticity assessment. Therefore, public trust relies on transparent AI disclosure, ethical governance, and responsible practices. Moreover, sustainable AI integration requires stronger governance, platform transparency, and human oversight to maintain communication credibility.