From SERPs to Sound: How Search Engine Result Pages and AI-generated Podcasts Interact to Influence User Attitudes on Controversial Topics

2026-01-16

AI Summary

This study investigates the interactive effects of search engine results pages (SERPs) and AI-generated podcasts in shaping users’ attitudes toward controversial topics. Through a controlled experiment involving 483 participants, the research systematically examines how information medium type, presentation order, viewpoint bias, and topic controversy influence attitude change. The findings reveal, for the first time, that the sequence in which information is consumed significantly affects shifts in user perspectives, with both viewpoint bias and topic controversy acting as moderating factors. Notably, individual differences did not exert a significant effect. This work provides empirical evidence and theoretical insights into the synergistic mechanisms through which emerging AI-mediated content and traditional search interfaces jointly shape public opinion in contentious domains.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Intelligent User Interfaces
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Search and Optimization: Metareasoning and Metaheuristics

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Sentiment analysis and opinion mining
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web learning to rank, online learning, and counterfactual learning for ranking

Abstract

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.

Problem

• search engine result pages
• AI-generated podcasts
• user attitudes
• controversial topics
• information modality

Innovation

• AI-generated podcasts
• search engine result pages
• attitude change
• information modality
• sequence effect