AI-GENERATED MEDIA AND PUBLIC TRUST: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM LITHUANIA
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https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4444-7206
Abstract
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is fundamentally reshaping the digital communication landscape. AI now enables the creation of highly realistic synthetic images, videos and voices. While these innovations open new opportunities for creativity, they also blur the boundaries between reality and fabrication, posing challenges to public trust and perceptions of truth.
This study explores how young people in Lithuania, both local and foreign, perceive, interpret and emotionally respond to AI-generated media, and how such experiences influence their trust in digital information. Using an exploratory qualitative design, the research combined an experimental exposure to authentic and AI-generated media samples (n = 15, aged 14–29) with semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis identified four central themes: reliance on intuition and first impressions; mixed emotional reactions such as curiosity, admiration and anxiety; erosion of baseline trust; and gradual adaptation through reflective verification and collaboration.
Findings show that authenticity judgments are increasingly shaped by emotional resonance, familiarity and contextual cues rather than factual reasoning. Exposure to synthetic media often provokes cognitive fatigue and emotional ambivalence, yet it can also foster critical awareness and the emergence of “networked trust” in which verification becomes a shared social practice. Participants demonstrated both vulnerability to manipulation and growing resilience through peer discussion, emotional regulation and adaptive learning.
The study concludes that trust in the AI era is not a static belief but a dynamic process rebuilt through emotional intelligence, reflection and collective verification. These insights highlight the importance of technological transparency, media education that incorporates emotional literacy and community-based initiatives to strengthen resilience against misinformation in small digital societies such as Lithuania.
Future research should address these questions using quantitative methods to capture broader societal patterns and include older age groups, whose trust dynamics and digital literacy levels may differ from those of youth.
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