Following a series of major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, it is believed that the use of AI technology can fundamentally subvert many industries and business fields, one of which is marketing. For instance, AI is likely to become a key driver of how advertising and marketing activities are conducted (Qin and Jiang, 2019) and thus dramatically change marketing strategies and customer behaviors (Davenport et al., 2020).

This study suggests that using AI chatbots with highly human-like characteristics could reduce the effectiveness of personalized AI chatbot advertising because they will likely worsen consumer concerns about privacy. Conversely, using AI chatbot with less human-like characteristics will not heighten consumer privacy concerns, thereby increasing the impact of personalized AI advertising.