Title: Talk to AI-Equipped Investors: A Field Experiment

Speaker: Zhenghui Ni, Assistant Professor, Renmin University of China

Time: 10:00-11:30, October 30, 2025 (Thursday)

Venue: Room 706, Mingde Business Building (Zhongguancun Campus)

Language: Chinese/English

ABSTRACT:

We conduct a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving a sample of listed firms in China to study how perceived AI bots affect managerial disclosure behavior and market reactions. Leveraging Online Earnings Conferences (OECs), we experimentally manipulate the perceived identity of questioners, framing them as either human or AI, while holding informational environment constant. Managers are 13% less likely to respond to AI-styled questions, especially questions about current industry performance. When they respond, their tone is significantly less positive., especially for current industry performance. Using intraday data, we find that equity investors postpone trading during the window in which AI-equipped questions are raised and exhibit greater reactions once managerial responses are released. Therefore, part of the observed decline in disclosure can be attributed to reduced managerial strategic behavior.