Many consumers want brands to be up front about their AI use - Insights from 17 markets

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used by brands to enhance several aspects of their consumer-facing operations. But while it may help them target, engage or serve their audiences better, what do consumers feel about brands using AI when interacting with them?

According to a new YouGov survey, more than two in five consumers across 17 international markets say that brands should maintain a level of transparency when utilizing AI for consumer interactions (44%). This call for openness reflects a growing awareness and perhaps concern surrounding how artificial intelligence is interwoven into brands’ consumer-facing interactions.

YouGov’s demographic data shows that 46% of men feel brands and businesses should be transparent when using AI to interact with consumers. Comparatively, a slightly lesser proportion of women (43%) are of the same opinion.

Consumers in Britain are most likely to expect transparency from brands on AI use; those in Indonesia are least likely to

Great Britain leads with the largest proportion of consumers (59%) who feel brands and businesses should be transparent about using AI to interact with consumers. It is interesting to note here that the Competition and Markets Authority - Britain’s anti-trust regulator - recently published a set of seven principles aimed at preventing AI models from being dominated by a handful of tech companies by making its developers accountable and keeping a check on anti-competitive practices.

Singapore follows Great Britain at a distant second - ten percentage points behind at a significant 49%. Further, consumers in Singapore are the most likely among our Asian markets to say brands and businesses should be transparent about using AI to interact with consumers. Consumers in urban India at 48% and more than two in five (44%) consumers in the US share this sentiment.

Equal proportions of consumers in the UAE and Canada (45% each) feel brands should be transparent about AI use.

On the other hand, consumers in Indonesia are least likely across all markets surveyed to have this opinion.

In Europe, more than two in five (45%) consumers in Spain feel businesses should be transparent about using AI to interact with customers. Poland and Italy (which temporarily banned generative AI chatbot ChatGPT earlier this year) account for the lowest share of consumers who say so (37% each).

Figures reported in the Nordics are significant as well where 41% of consumers in Sweden and over a third (38%) of those in Denmark feel brands should be transparent about their use of AI.

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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 437 and 2045 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in June 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.

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