Pantheon.io, the WebOps platform for running the web as one system at scale, released findings from its new survey that reveals how consumer trust is declining amidst the rise of AI-powered fakes. As scammers actively poison AI search engines and LLMs to recommend cloned websites, consumers have hit a breaking point of hyper-skepticism. The data shows that 65% of consumers, including 79% of Millennial and Gen Z respondents, are confident they can identify fake websites. However, nearly 3 in 4 respondents actually misidentified a legitimate site as an AI-driven scam simply because it was slow or glitchy.

“In the AI era, a reliable web platform is mission critical for brand protection.” -Josh Koenig, co-founder and SVP, Marketing

According to the study, 92% of consumers agree that the rise of AI-generated content is making it significantly harder to determine if a website is legitimate, with 86% saying they are far more skeptical of online brands today than they were just two years ago.

The Site Performance Penalty: Slow is Suspicious

With bad actors increasingly using generative AI to deploy convincing fake websites, consumers are on high alert. As a result, poor website performance is no longer viewed as a simple technical inconvenience — it’s viewed as a security threat. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of consumers say they immediately suspect a website is unsecure or fake if it is slow or buggy.

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Because of this heightened anxiety, businesses that fail at website best practices are accidentally alienating their audiences. Consumers admitted they have mistaken completely legitimate websites for scams due to standard oversights, including the inability to find a working “Contact Us” page, design feeling outdated or unprofessional, and content not being up-to-date.

As a result, 88% of consumers feel companies should do more to prove their authenticity online. When credibility cues are missing and a site feels suspicious due to poor performance, the financial consequences are immediate: 41% of consumers avoid entering personal or credit card information, and 39% will completely abandon their purchase.

“As cybercriminals infiltrate the AI search ecosystem with lookalike sites, trust has become a business-critical priority,” said Josh Koenig, co-founder and SVP of Marketing, Pantheon. “Consumers are operating with their guard up. If your website lags, contains broken pages, or serves stale content, people increasingly assume you’re an AI scam instead of just having technical issues. In the AI era, a reliable web platform is mission critical for brand protection.”

Additional findings from the survey include:

• The Multi-Front AI Threat: In the last 12 months, consumers report encountering AI-generated news or blog sites with misleading info (45%), fake online stores (29%), fake customer service portals or chatbots (22%), and fake local government resource sites (22%).
• Feeding the Competition: Suspicious web experiences drive traffic straight into the arms of rivals, with 20% of consumers immediately switching to a competitor when a site feels “off.”
• The One-Strike Reality: The damage to customer lifetime value is permanent: over half (53%) of consumers state they are unlikely to return to a website after a single suspicious experience, even if it turns out to be 100% legitimate.
• Organizations Held Accountable: If a bad actor clones an organization’s website, over a third (34%) of consumers will trust the original brand less, and 28% will directly blame them for not preventing it. Consumers rank the original brand as the #2 entity responsible for protecting them — behind personal vigilance but ahead of Big Tech, AI creators, and government regulators.