Consumer Sentiment Around Generative AI Remains Challenging
As generative AI continues to pick up momentum, the customer experience platform Disqo has begun tracking how consumers are responding to the technology and its ever-new applications.
Disqo first started tracking consumer perceptions of generative AI last March with an initial survey of more than 30,000 consumers, following up with the same survey in April to gauge the differences brands need to know for successful adoption. The first survey found several distinctive challenges for generative AI, including low-level knowledge, overwhelming distrust and a call for transparency stemming from worry about how AI will impact the future.
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However, according to the authors of Disqo’s latest report, with repeated exposure to generative AI and transparent communications, the early skepticism seen from consumers is softening quickly. Still, that knowledge is growing at the lower end of the scale with consumers having “very low knowledge” dropping 12 points between surveys but 61 percent of consumers still reporting “low knowledge.”
Similarly, while usage remains low, it is exploding among certain groups. The company’s survey found that overall 14 percent of consumers have used generative AI, which is 4 points (40 percent) higher than in February. Gen Z is the fastest-growing segment of generative AI users among U.S. adults, with 20 percent also reporting that their experience was positive compared to just 7 percent citing negative experiences.
Trust remains a huge challenge in the space, but has improved slightly. According to the report, 54 percent of users trust AI content “less” or “much less” than human content. Still, this marks a 6 point decrease in those reporting “much less” trust, which the authors of the report credit to the positive momentum among Millennial and Gen X adults. Gen Z was the only generation to see any growth in trust for AI.
Perceptions were also found to differ depending on the application. To better understand this, Disqo asked consumers about the “appropriateness of using AI-generated content” in 12 different domains, from corporate materials to various forms of entertainment. While the appropriateness of the tech was low in every category, people remain especially unsupportive of this technology in more creative uses like entertainment and news.
While many consumers (30 percent) said generative AI is not appropriate in any context for content, there was a slightly growing reception noted in several areas including marketing materials (27 percent), online courses (20 percent) and corporate emails (19 percent), although approvals remained low. Resistance remains highest in categories including music, movies and TV show creation.
Although consumers report low confidence in the ability to detect when content is AI-generated, they also expect disclosure when the technology is used. This transparency, which is requested by 86 percent of respondents, said the authors of the report, has remained uniquely high even as consumers show more openness to the technology’s implementation.
As brands continue to experiment with AI, Disqo’s researchers said, “consumer buy-in will be a defining factor in whether it sticks around or loses out to the next shiny new thing.”
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