60% of U.S. Consumers Say AI in Brand Messaging Is a Turnoff as Trust Plummets, Survey Reveals

Sixty percent of U.S. consumers say 'AI' in brand messaging is a turnoff, survey finds

Getting cited by AI is easier than earning consumers' trust, according to a new report from WordPress VIP, the Automattic-owned company that offers an enterprise version of the WordPress publishing platform. As brands race to have their links appear in AI search results, consumers have grown more skeptical about whether they can actually trust the answers they're getting. Per the report, 60% of consumers in the U.S. say that brands that use "AI" in their messaging are a turnoff, and 86% don't fully trust AI and still want to explore original sources. Notably, 42% of consumers said that AI-generated answers without clear attribution are trusted less than airline fees, confusing privacy policies, and medical bills. Nearly three in four respondents said the internet feels "less human" than it did 10 years ago. Together, the findings paint a picture of a rapidly evolving digital landscape where brands are trying to adapt to a world beyond Google Search and traditional SEO, while also balancing the need to appear human-authored or risk losing their audience. As companies invest more in making their brand visible to AI search engines, consumers are placing greater value on transparency and attribution. "People used to build websites for other people," said Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP, in a statement shared alongside the new report. "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." The report is based on a survey of 2,000 respondents conducted in April, comprising 800 enterprise decision-makers and CMOs and 1,200 U.S. adults. Despite consumers' wariness about AI, the report also found that AI referrals to sites were growing. Sixty percent of enterprise respondents said that traffic from AI search engines and answer platforms increased over the past year, and 74% of enterprise decision-makers said AI discoverability and attribution are a main or significant priority. WordPress VIP says the findings point to a future where brands will have to navigate both AI visibility and human trust simultaneously. The report found that 33% of consumers said clicking through to see an original source is still their top trust signal, and 80% said information on the web should remain openly accessible, rather than controlled by a small number of large organizations. The last finding aligns with Automattic's broader push for an open web ecosystem, reflected in its backing of the open source WordPress project and investments in open web protocols, like ActivityPub.

'No customer or user wakes up and says, "I hope I get to talk to a chat bot or an AI agent today"': Survey claims brands which sound more "human" will get ahead in the AI age

* Consumers are experiencing 'bot fatigue' after interacting with impersonal AI, WordPress VIP finds * 61% can't even name a brand that's using AI well in marketing or CX * AI is emerging as a discovery layer, not a customer service replacement New research from WordPress VIP has uncovered just how much AI is impacting browsing and online shopping habits, with three in four (74%) consumers believing the Internet feels less 'human' than it did 10 years ago, largely due to AI and automation. 40 minutes is now the average time before consumers feel so-called 'bot fatigue', where they've been interacting with too much AI and want more human connections, the study claimed. But while artificial intelligence promises to solve more and more customer service tickets, three in five (61%) consumers cannot even name a single brand that uses AI well in marketing or CX. Consumers are fed up with AI Additionally, shoppers and customers don't feel that AI is an advantage that businesses should shout about. They'd much rather have better experiences without the constant reminders. Two-thirds of consumers say mentioning AI in brand messaging is a turn-off for them rather than a selling point, and 86% still don't trust AI-generated content, including troubleshooting and support in customer service chats. Rather than replacing human workers and tools, consumers seem much happier to accept it as a replacement for other digital services, like search engine discovery. They want companies to focus on appearing in AI search results, but they still want original human content and direct access to sources. "No customer or user wakes up and says, 'I hope I get to talk to a chat bot or an AI agent today'," ServiceNow Head of Global Innovation Brian Solis wrote. "Human-centered design is truer today with artificial intelligence." Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Do you trust AI? Almost every American says no and believes humans are more helpful: survey

Over eight in 10 Americans don't fully trust what AI tells them -- and they opt to still explore original sources by themselves, according to new research. The poll of 1,200 U.S. adults revealed 86% are distrustful of AI results, and for 42%, this comes specifically when AI-generated answers don't clearly show where the answer originates from. People said they distrust AI-generated search results without clear attribution (42%) more than medical bills (18%), confusing legal print (17%), and airline fees (10%). Adding to their concerns, 75% are also concerned that what they see online is being controlled by a small handful of companies. Four out of five (81%) think it's important that the information they get online remains openly available -- not kept behind a paywall or owned by big organizations. Commissioned by WordPress VIP and conducted by Talker Research, 75% of Americans said they find humans much more helpful than AI (15%) when interacting with or consulting for help on a business's website. And if they ever suspect who they're talking to isn't real, 56% are confident in determining if their chat is AI or a human. When asked which business uses AI best in its brand messaging, 61% said they were not sure or could not think of one, and another 16% said they do not believe any business uses AI well at all. Only about one in four could name a company at all. Compared to the internet a decade ago, three in four believe the internet today feels less human. The average person believes 55% of all internet interactions they have are AI. Similarly, they believe 54% of all interactions they have on a business's website are also AI. Nearly all of those polled (92%) said they've come across AI or bots when using social media, and 63% said it happens frequently. It takes them just 40 minutes before they start to feel fatigued by the amount of bot-made content they see. "Brands cannot afford to treat visibility and trust as separate things anymore," said Steph Yiu, CEO of WordPress VIP. "If people cannot understand where information came from or connect it back to a brand they trust, being visible is not enough. Companies need digital experiences that give them more control over how they appear online and help them keep a direct relationship with their audience. More than ever, the website is where a brand provides context and earns trust." The study also polled 800 U.S. marketing executives and digital experience experts to find how they perceive the same issues about AI, their messaging and marketing efforts, and the open web. Three in four (74%) said ensuring their organization's website content is discoverable and clearly attributed when surfaced by AI search and answer engines is a main or significant priority. And nine in 10 (91%) believe it's important their content takes on a more human tone. Nearly four in 10 (39%) of marketing executives and digital experience experts are "kept up at night" by misinformation from AI-generated responses. And if it's not openly available and structured for the public, 69% believe their website will be completely invisible to AI search and answer engines. "People used to build websites for other people," said Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP. "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. Most CMSes were built for one of those jobs. The next decade belongs to the ones that do both." Research methodology: Talker Research surveyed 800 DMs/CMOs for CMS and Digital Experience Platforms and 1,200 general population Americans who have access to the internet; the survey was commissioned by WordPress and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Apr. 15 and Apr. 20, 2026. A link to the questionnaire can be found here.