Search papers, labs, and topics across Lattice.
This paper introduces a novel "AI washing" index to quantify the degree to which fintech companies overstate their AI capabilities relative to actual AI investment. Using CHFS2019 data, the authors find that higher AI washing scores negatively impact farmers' adoption of digital financial behaviors by exacerbating knowledge and risk exclusion. Social capital is shown to moderate this negative impact, suggesting a pathway to mitigate the adverse effects of misleading AI claims.
Overstating AI capabilities in fintech erodes trust and hinders digital financial inclusion among farmers, particularly those lacking strong social networks.
In the context of the rapid development of digital finance, some financial technology companies exhibit the phenomenon of"AI washing,"where they overstate their AI capabilities while underinvesting in actual AI resources. This paper constructs a corporate-level AI washing index based on CHFS2019 data and AI investment data from 15-20 financial technology companies, analyzing and testing its impact on farmers'digital financial behavior response. The study finds that AI washing significantly suppresses farmers'digital financial behavior; the higher the degree of AI washing, the lower the response level of farmers'digital financial behavior. Moreover, AI washing indirectly inhibits farmers'behavioral responses by exacerbating knowledge exclusion and risk exclusion. Social capital can positively moderate the negative impact of AI washing; among farmer groups with high social capital, the suppressive effect of AI washing on digital financial behavior is significantly weaker than that among groups with low social capital. In response, this paper suggests that regulatory authorities establish a strict information disclosure system for AI technology, conduct differentiated digital financial education to enhance the identification capabilities of vulnerable groups, promote digital financial mutual aid groups to leverage the protective effects of social capital, improve the consumer protection mechanism for farmers in digital finance, and set up pilot"Digital Inclusive Finance Demonstration Counties,"etc.
