New Kearney Consumer Institute Research Analyzes Consumer Sentiment on Generative AI from Armageddon to Trust

• About 50% of consumers have tried generative AI; 44% of these don’t usually trust it

• Biggest consumer concern in the US, UK, and France: loss of human connection

• Biggest consumer concern in Germany, India, and China: data privacy

• AI’s #1 potential is faster customer service, say consumers in 5 out of 7 geographies

• To regain trust, brands and retailers can aim to meet consumer expectations and mediate their concerns

Global management consulting firm Kearney’s internal consumer think tank, the Kearney Consumer Institute (KCI), released a new report on generative AI (GAI) and its relationship to consumer trust in coordination with its recent presentation at the Consumer Goods Forum in Kyoto, Japan. Based on a survey of 7,000 global consumers, Generative AI and Consumer Trust: Can AI Regenerate Consumer Trust in Brands? addresses consumer attitudes and concerns around burgeoning GAI-driven retail technology, including most/least trusted uses and how brands can best use the technology.

As brands and retailers struggle to figure out where they are in relation to AI and GAI-powered technologies, consumer responses to technological change are often far more complex and nuanced than they realize. KCI’s research offers a suggested roadmap for how to begin thinking about AI in a more consumer-centric way.

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“Our research has shown that consumers value honesty and consistency in a brand above all else,” said the report’s author Katie Thomas, who leads the Kearney Consumer Institute. “That said, half of them have at least experimented with generative AI. What does that mean for brands that use artificial intelligence? Where do conversational bots fall on the trust spectrum?”

The KCI has been exploring how brands can begin to address consumer trust in AI through three primary avenues—consumer benefit and brand fit, personalization and data, and human-to-AI connectivity. The report also shares consumer sentiment data and addresses themes such as:

• Consumers’ varying levels of trust within digital, from the internet through social media to generative AI
• Top consumer use cases and levels of optimism/concern about AI
• Breakdown of consumers’ concerns across geographies about AI vs. its perceived potential
• What brands need to do to manage sometimes conflicting consumer attitudes toward AI, including understanding its benefits, consumer trust busters, and areas to watch out for

To become thoughtful, intelligent users of GAI, brands need to assess consumers’ expectations and concerns as they directly relate to the brand. AI is not a blanket solution.

“Consumers enjoy experimenting with newer AI tools and see their potential, but they also bring a healthy dose of skepticism, with concerns ranging from mis/disinformation to data privacy to human connection to job loss,” added Thomas. “While we see a lot of potential for how brands can think about AI and use it to build trust, there are meaningful concerns, and consumers’ contradictory feelings must be acknowledged.”

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