In a preregistered U.S. experiment, citations increased trust in AI-search answers even when incorrect or hallucinated, while uncertainty highlighting reduced trust and sharing.

SocioLens project,

Claim LD10-HQ-C20 (v1.0)

In a preregistered U.S. experiment, citations increased trust in AI-search answers even when incorrect or hallucinated, while uncertainty highlighting reduced trust and sharing.

Research opportunities this claim motivates

What this claim leaves open for research. Each is a hypothesis about a gap, not a finding.

Are AI search answers less faithful to their cited sources outside US English?Citations increased trust in AI-search answers even when incorrect, which is why unsupported citations matter; the claim does not establish real-world reliance levels.
Does weeks of everyday AI-answer use make people check sources less?In a single-session experiment, citations raised trust in AI-search answers even when wrong, while uncertainty highlighting reduced trust; whether this carries over to field reliance is not established.

Provenance and status

Claim type: Estimate
Publication status: Eligible for publication, with qualifiers: preprint
Verification state: Checked against the abstract of the primary source only. Who checked this claim is not recorded for it; claim checks so far were AI-led, and no person has checked claims against their sources.
Does not license: Field reliance levels or factual reliability from citations
Limitations: Survey setting; preprint
Source (as cited): Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435
Source type: Preprint (recorded as “Preprint”)
Institutional position: Independent academic
Maturity of the evidence: Emerging evidence
Recorded date: 25 September 2026
Currentness / correction: This is the current version. No correction or concern is recorded on its sources.

Sources this version cites

Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435 (Preprint)
Read the original

Version

This is the current version, v1.0. Earlier versions stay available, and their records never change.

Versions: v1.0 · current

Raw record: every recorded field, with its coded values

All 25 canonical Claim fields, verbatim, with the coded values derived from them. The plain-language labels above are read from these.

Claim type (coded): ESTIMATE (as printed: “ESTIMATE”)
Publication status (coded): ELIGIBLE (PREPRINT) (as printed: “ELIGIBLE WITH PREPRINT QUALIFIER”)
Verification state (coded): CONTENT_VERIFIED_PRIMARY (ABSTRACT_ONLY)
Source type (coded): PREPRINT
Maturity (coded): EMERGING

#	Canonical field	Canonical value (verbatim)	Normalized (Claim Value Vocabulary v1.0.2)
1	CLAIM ID	LD10-HQ-C20	—
2	PUBLIC-FACING CLAIM	In a preregistered U.S. experiment, citations increased trust in AI-search answers even when incorrect or hallucinated, while uncertainty highlighting reduced trust and sharing.	—
3	CLAIM TYPE	ESTIMATE	base_types: ESTIMATE
4	RESEARCH STRAND	E — Trust & epistemic dependence	—
5	MATURITY	EMERGING	states: EMERGING
6	SOURCE	Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435	source_ids: SRC-LD10-LI-ARAL-2025
7	SOURCE TYPE	Preprint	classes: PREPRINT
8	INSTITUTIONAL POSITION	Independent academic	—
9	SCOPE	U.S.-representative experiment; audit across seven countries	—
10	DESIGN	Preregistered survey experiment + audit	—
11	SAMPLE / DATASET	Sample size not load-bearing in canonical claim	—
12	MODEL / TOOL / VERSION	Google GenAI search designs	—
13	COMPARATOR	Traditional/design variants	—
14	MAIN RESULT	Reference links/citations raised trust independent of correctness; uncertainty cues lowered trust/sharing	—
15	INFERENTIAL TARGET	Design effects on trust	—
16	DOES NOT LICENSE	Field reliance levels or factual reliability from citations	—
17	VERIFICATION STATE	CONTENT VERIFIED ABSTRACT	state: CONTENT_VERIFIED_PRIMARY · qualifiers: ABSTRACT_ONLY · verified_by: UNKNOWN
18	LIMITATIONS	Survey setting; preprint	—
19	CONTRADICTORY / SUPPORTING SOURCES	Spatharioti CHI shows confidence cues can reduce overreliance	—
20	GEOGRAPHY / LANGUAGE	US + seven-country audit / English	—
21	DISTRIBUTIONAL LEDGER	Trust-calibration design may differentially affect users with lower verification capacity	—
22	R01 / FIELD-MAP LINKS	D3, D7, D4b, R-2	—
23	WHAT WOULD CHANGE THIS CLAIM?	Naturalistic field replication	—
24	PUBLICATION STATUS	ELIGIBLE WITH PREPRINT QUALIFIER	state: ELIGIBLE · qualifiers: PREPRINT
25	RECORDED DATE	2026-09-25	—

Field 22 references resolved against Field Map v0.2: D3 (DOMAIN); D7 (DOMAIN); D4b (SUB_AREA); R-2 (LENS)

The sources as recorded, with their record IDs and coded source types:

Pinned Sources (field 6, version-specific)

“Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435” → Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435 (SRC-LD10-LI-ARAL-2025--v1.0) — Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435; class PREPRINT (explicit public provenance pin)

Cited by Living Debate versions

Persuasion, Intermediation & the Information Order (v0.1) LD-10
Raw record: where this debate places the claim, with its coded facets
HQ placement: SC-LD10-02; facets: source_maturity=PREPRINT, verification_scope=ABSTRACT_ONLY, outcome_family=TRUST_AND_SHARING, geography_scope=US, exposure_mode=EXPERIMENTAL_AI_SEARCH_DESIGN, outcome_type=TRUST_AND_SHARING, horizon=IMMEDIATE_EXPERIMENTAL, model_vintage=GOOGLE_GENAI_SEARCH_DESIGNS

Theory relations (status inherited from this ClaimVersion)

Bears on a presupposition of EPISTEMIC DEPENDENCE / S1 — NORMATIVE_SOCIAL_EPISTEMOLOGICAL
Non-evidential relation (not support). Its status is inherited from this claim (see “Provenance and status”). Does not license: Field reliance levels or factual reliability from citations
Raw record: this relation’s coded type, inherited status and placement
Relation type: BEARS_ON_PRESUPPOSITION. Inherited status: PUBLICATION:ELIGIBLE; PUBLICATION_QUALIFIER:PREPRINT.
Placement in LD-10: SC-LD10-02; level not applicable (stated by the HQ theory-link fixture)
Supports an interpretation in terms of EPISTEMIC DEPENDENCE / S2 — BEHAVIOURAL_INTERMEDIARY
Active theory relation — counts as interpretation support (never proof of the theory). Its status is inherited from this claim (see “Provenance and status”). Does not license: Field reliance levels or factual reliability from citations
Raw record: this relation’s coded type, inherited status and placement
Relation type: SUPPORTS_INTERPRETATION. Inherited status: PUBLICATION:ELIGIBLE; PUBLICATION_QUALIFIER:PREPRINT.
Placement in LD-10: SC-LD10-02; level not applicable (stated by the HQ theory-link fixture)

Cite this page

SocioLens project. (2026, September 25). In a preregistered U.S. experiment, citations increased trust in AI-search answers even when incorrect or hallucinated, while uncertainty highlighting reduced trust and sharing [Claim LD10-HQ-C20, version v1.0]. SocioLens. https://sociolens-web.pages.dev/claims/ld10-hq-c20/v1.0/

@misc{sociolens_ld10_hq_c20_v1_0,
  author = {{SocioLens project}},
  title = {In a preregistered U.S. experiment, citations increased trust in AI-search answers even when incorrect or hallucinated, while uncertainty highlighting reduced trust and sharing.},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-09-25},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sociolens-web.pages.dev/claims/ld10-hq-c20/v1.0/}},
  note = {Claim LD10-HQ-C20, version v1.0}
}

The link points to this version, whose record never changes. For a finding, cite the original study as well: SocioLens summarizes research and does not replace it.

Research-of-record provenance

Materialized by sociolens-materializer 0.6.0 at 2026-09-28T20:00:00.000Z; normalization contract SocioLens — Claim Value Vocabulary v1.0.2 — Pre-Spike Materialization Contract (v1.0.2). Content seal SHA-256 8a101a7b6981050992c90c32561ebe4db8ba0223720a62a6ce884e6298a697f1.

Frozen Drive-derived inputs

R07 — LD-10 Canonical Claim Ledger v1.0 — LOCKED (v1.0) — Drive ID 1TwCjF7zxWTDs4bDvwQfEb5hbMAMuMu3vmK53kcOdo54; revision: NOT_EXPOSED_BY_DRIVE_TEXT_EXPORT; Drive modified 2026-09-25T21:56:50.285Z; block “ENTRY 20 — LD10-HQ-C20” SHA-256 160b781a6fd8d6a8be4bf027bd09d4af2ff5acffc4bebf0aeb7ab9a78e98c829; SocioLens — Programme Status & Authority Register v0.6 status “CURRENT.”; frozen fixture fixtures/frozen/r07-ld10-claim-ledger-v1.0.
SocioLens — Proof Source Registry v0.4 (v0.4) — Drive ID 1_-GLmj6PfetWDQH2KldMv-61vmSmzdAyyxgZZZCFnbE; revision: NOT_EXPOSED_BY_DRIVE_TEXT_EXPORT; Drive modified 2026-09-27T19:04:00.374Z; block “REGISTRY ENTRY SRC-LD10-LI-ARAL-2025” SHA-256 db8cb26155b99ebcf31587d435045bca1498918bd0d8a28e826ea52c09c6f365; SocioLens — Programme Status & Authority Register v0.6 status “CURRENT PROOF SOURCE REGISTRY.”; frozen fixture fixtures/frozen/proof-source-registry-v0.4.

Builder decisions (not Drive data)

VERSION = v1.0 — basis: Claim version taken from the canonical ledger artifact version (R07 — LD-10 Canonical Claim Ledger v1.0); Implementation Architecture Selection §5 logical_id/version convention.
CURRENT_POINTER = true — basis: SocioLens — Programme Status & Authority Register v0.6 status for "R07 — LD-10 Canonical Claim Ledger v1.0 — LOCKED": "CURRENT."
FIELD_6_SOURCE_REFERENCE = SRC-LD10-LI-ARAL-2025--v1.0 — basis: field 6 of ENTRY 20 — LD10-HQ-C20 cites "Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435"; Builder identification: the cited work is Proof Source Registry v0.4 identity SRC-LD10-LI-ARAL-2025 (canonical label "Li & Aral 2025, arXiv:2504.06435"), Registry-linked to this logical Claim; SocioLens record v1.0 is its sole record.
SOURCE_PROVENANCE_PIN = SRC-LD10-LI-ARAL-2025--v1.0 — basis: Issue #5 proof rendering (Architecture Proof Protocol v0.1 AP-08 / Amendment v1.2 §6): explicit version-pinned public provenance of this ClaimVersion — the pinned field-6 Source record.