A study on the willingness to substitute heuristics with ‘generative artificial intelligence’ (GenAI) in economic decision making.

Last registered on June 04, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
A study on the willingness to substitute heuristics with ‘generative artificial intelligence’ (GenAI) in economic decision making.
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016113
Initial registration date
June 01, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 04, 2025, 10:00 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Rodolfo Sejas-Portillo
Affiliation
University of Glasgow
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-06-02
End date
2026-06-30
Keywords
Behavior, Lab
Additional Keywords
GenAI
JEL code(s)
D90, D81
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study investigates the degree to which individuals are willing to substitute heuristics (rules of thumb) with the use of generative ‘artificial intelligence’ (GenAI) to inform their economic decision making. An incentivised survey experiment will be implemented in a behavioural economics lab under controlled conditions. Participants will be asked to solve hypothetical economic problems, where heuristics are often employed, and they will be allowed to exchange a portion of monetary rewards for the opportunity to use GenAI. All answers are collected anonymously.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Sejas-Portillo, Rodolfo. 2025. "A study on the willingness to substitute heuristics with ‘generative artificial intelligence’ (GenAI) in economic decision making.." AEA RCT Registry. June 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16113-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
An incentivised survey experiment conducted in-person at a behavioural lab.
Intervention Start Date
2025-06-02
Intervention End Date
2025-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1) The willingness to pay for the use of GenAI to help answer decisions making questions. This is measured as the amount of the potential reward a participant is willing to exchange to see an answer generated by GenAI.
2) The accuracy of the answer to economic decision making questions. This will be measured as a True/False outcome, where True represents a correct answer according to the laws of probability and to the available information.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
3) The confidence in the accuracy of the answer. This will be measured from 0% to 100% in increments of 10%.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants will be asked to answer hypothetical questions on economic decision making. The questions mimic reasoning that they make every day when purchasing products or services. Each question has a correct answer, which is the best possible guess according to the laws of probability given the information available. For each question, if they select the correct answer, then a monetary reward will be added to their total payment (on top of a show-up fee). A portion of participants, during some questions, will be given the option to use GenAI to help them choose an answer. In these cases, they may need to exchange a portion of your reward for the use of GenAI. This amount will be clearly shown before you decide to use GenAI. After the hypothetical questions, they will be asked questions on their everyday use of GenAI and about themselves (personal identification is not possible from these answers). All questions in this last section are optional and your answers will have no effect on your monetary rewards.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Computer.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomisation is the individual participating in the experiment. Randomisation occurs at the following levels:
- Assignment to experiment group (Control Group, Treatment Group 1, Treatment Group 2).
- Order of questions.
- Cost of using GenAI.
- Probability that GenAI answer is correct.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
150 participants who agree to attend the experiment sessions at the behavioural lab.
Sample size: planned number of observations
10 sets of answers (of the outcome variables) for each participant who completes the experiment.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The target is to obtain 150 individual participants in total and perform the following assignments:
- 50 in Control Group.
- 50 in Treatment Group 1.
- 50 in Treatment Group 2.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
College of Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, University of Glasgow
IRB Approval Date
2025-05-16
IRB Approval Number
400240257
Analysis Plan