This title was written by AI: How disclosure of generative content impacts perceptions of luxury

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly visible in creative industries, brands face a crucial question: how does disclosing AI authorship affect consumer response? This study examines the issue through an experiment testing six hypotheses grounded in research on authenticity, creativity, and branding. While AI is often associated with efficiency and practicality, its role in emotionally charged domains such as luxury demands closer scrutiny. Results show that disclosure of machine-made content does not uniformly harm luxury brand evaluations but selectively undermines certain dimensions. Specifically, AI disclosure significantly reduced perceptions of authenticity, brand attitude, and honesty, with a marginal effect on brand trust and perceived craftsmanship. Creativity, brand essence, emotional bond, and perceived human touch remained intact—an intriguing outcome that challenges the common assumption that consumers reject AI across all symbolic dimensions. Serial mediation analyses revealed that authenticity and brand attitude fully mediate the impact of disclosure on purchase intention, while willingness to pay remained unaffected. Familiarity with AI and luxury did not moderate disclosure outcomes, although AI familiarity improved baseline evaluations across conditions. Taken together, the findings highlight authenticity as the pivotal psychological lever through which consumers assess AI-authored creativity. The study contributes by showing construct-specific vulnerabilities rather than wholesale skepticism and extends the literature on authenticity in luxury branding by highlighting which symbolic dimensions are most at risk. Practically, the findings suggest that transparency about AI authorship can temper enthusiasm but does not erode core brand identity or monetary valuation, offering professionals a nuanced strategy for integrating AI disclosure into luxury branding.