The study finds that people who believe they are negotiating with a human report greater relationship satisfaction but agree to less favorable financial terms, suggesting that the perceived value of human interaction can come at an economic cost.
Key Takeaways
- Believing a negotiator is human changes outcomes. In an experiment involving 205 participants, everyone negotiated apartment rent with the same AI-powered broker, but those who believed they were dealing with a human agreed to pay approximately $75 more per month.
- Human interaction carries relational value. Participants who believed their negotiating partner was human reported greater satisfaction with the relationship, even though they secured less favorable financial terms.
- AI introduces a new tradeoff in business negotiations. As companies increasingly adopt AI-powered negotiation tools, the findings suggest that perceptions of a negotiating partner's identity can influence both economic outcomes and relationship satisfaction.
Read the full publication.