Compared to search engine result pages (SERPs), AI-generated podcasts represent a relatively new and relatively more passive modality of information consumption, delivering narratives in a naturally engaging format. As these two media increasingly converge in everyday information-seeking behavior, it is essential to explore how their interaction influences user attitudes, particularly in contexts involving controversial, value-laden, and often debated topics. Addressing this need, we aim to understand how information mediums of present-day SERPs and AI-generated podcasts interact to shape the opinions of users. To this end, through a controlled user study (N=483), we investigated user attitudinal effects of consuming information via SERPs and AI-generated podcasts, focusing on how the sequence and modality of exposure shape user opinions. A majority of users in our study corresponded to attitude change outcomes, and we found an effect of sequence on attitude change. Our results further revealed a role of viewpoint bias and the degree of topic controversiality in shaping attitude change, although we found no effect of individual moderators.

翻译：与搜索引擎结果页（SERPs）相比，AI生成播客代表了一种相对新颖且更为被动的信息消费模态，以自然吸引人的形式传递叙事内容。随着这两种媒介在日常信息寻求行为中日益融合，探究它们的交互如何影响用户态度变得至关重要，尤其是在涉及具有争议性、负载价值且常被辩论的话题情境中。为应对这一需求，我们旨在理解当今的SERPs与AI生成播客这两种信息媒介如何相互作用以塑造用户的观点。为此，我们通过一项受控用户研究（N=483），调查了用户通过SERPs和AI生成播客消费信息的态度效应，重点关注暴露顺序与模态如何塑造用户意见。研究中大多数用户表现出态度改变的结果，并且我们发现暴露顺序对态度改变存在影响。我们的结果进一步揭示了观点偏见与话题争议程度在塑造态度改变中的作用，尽管未发现个体调节变量的影响。