Imperfectly Human: The Humanizing Potential of (Corrected) Errors in Text-Based Communication

Today more than ever before, online text-based interactions have become a common means of communication between consumers and companies. But with the advent of AI-powered chatbots, customers sometimes struggle to ascertain the humanness of their online interaction partners (e.g., customer service agents). The current research investigates the humanizing potential of one common feature in text communication—typographical errors (“typos”). Across five experiments reported in the main text, two supplementary experiments, and pilot data (total N=3,399), participants perceived customer service agents who made and subsequently corrected a typo to be more human—and more helpful—than agents who made no typos or made but did not correct a typo. These findings provide novel insights into how conversational features influence customers’ perceptions of online agents. In an era where AI frequently surpasses human performance in a variety of domains, consumers may perceive the act of making (and correcting) errors to be a hallmark of humanness.