Survey: 60% of US Consumers Deterred by ‘AI’ in Brand Messaging
▼ Summary
– 60% of U.S. consumers find brands using “AI” in messaging off-putting, and 86% do not fully trust AI, preferring to explore original sources.
– 42% of consumers trust AI-generated answers without clear attribution less than airline fees, privacy policies, and medical bills.
– Nearly three in four respondents feel the internet is “less human” than it was 10 years ago.
– 74% of enterprise decision-makers prioritize AI discoverability and attribution, while 33% of consumers say clicking through to an original source is their top trust signal.
– 80% of consumers believe web information should remain openly accessible, not controlled by a few large organizations.
A new report from WordPress VIP reveals a stark disconnect: while brands scramble to get cited by AI search engines, the majority of U.S. consumers are turned off by the very mention of artificial intelligence in marketing. The survey, conducted in April with 2,000 respondents including 800 enterprise leaders and 1,200 U.S. adults, finds that 60% of consumers are deterred by brands using “AI” in their messaging. Even more striking, 86% of consumers do not fully trust AI-generated answers and prefer to dig into original sources themselves.
The level of distrust is remarkably high. According to the data, 42% of consumers trust AI-generated answers without clear attribution less than they trust airline fees, confusing privacy policies, and medical bills. This skepticism is part of a broader sentiment: nearly three in four respondents said the internet feels “less human” than it did a decade ago.
These findings create a difficult balancing act for brands. As companies invest heavily in making their content visible to AI search engines, consumers are placing greater value on transparency and human authorship. Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP, framed the challenge directly: “People used to build websites for other people. Now you have to build websites for AI agents acting on behalf of those people. If your site’s content isn’t legible to AI, you are invisible to a growing share of how people search. You don’t exist. And if your content doesn’t feel human and trustworthy for the tiny percentage of people who actually click past the AI answer engines, they won’t come back a second time.”
Despite consumer wariness, the report shows that AI referrals to websites are growing. Sixty percent of enterprise respondents reported an increase in traffic from AI search engines and answer platforms over the past year, and 74% of enterprise decision-makers said AI discoverability and attribution are a main or significant priority. This suggests brands cannot afford to ignore AI visibility, even as they work to maintain human trust.
The path forward may lie in transparency. The survey found that 33% of consumers consider clicking through to an original source as their top trust signal, and 80% believe information on the web should remain openly accessible rather than controlled by a small number of large organizations. These findings align with Automattic’s broader push for an open web ecosystem, reflected in its support for the open source WordPress project and protocols like ActivityPub. For brands, the message is clear: winning AI visibility is only half the battle. Earning and keeping consumer trust requires clear attribution, human tone, and a commitment to an open, accessible web.
(Source: TechCrunch)
