Trust in Gen AI Leaves Room for Improvement

German consumers remain skeptical about generative artificial intelligence and consider it untrustworthy. Nevertheless, its use is not completely rejected. What companies should pay attention to now.

The fact that generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is increasingly permeating everyday life is causing concern among consumers, especially in Germany. Disinformation and deepfakes, for example deceptively realistic Gen AI content, are fueling fears in particular. This and more is the result of a global evaluation by market research company Yougov. Around 1,000 German consumers took part in the survey.

• According to the results, 37 percent of Germans have a fundamentally negative attitude toward Gen AI with regard to the next ten years. This puts them in third place in an international comparison.
• Only France (40 percent) and Denmark (47 percent) are more critical. 
• The Asian economic area is the least concerned: 57 percent of Chinese consumers even associate Gen AI with positive expectations for the future. 
• Only 21 percent of Germans share this optimistic attitude toward the development of generative artificial intelligence.

Gen AI-generated news is controversial

Trust in news created using Gen AI is also remarkably high among Asian consumers. While only 37 percent of people worldwide believe machine-generated news, the figure is 70 percent in Indonesia. Hong Kong and Singapore are also convinced of Gen AI news, with 68 percent each. In contrast, only 36 percent of Germans agree, and 54 percent still consider news written by humans to be more trustworthy.

Therefore, iti is not surprising that only 15 percent of German consumers are willing to interact with an artificially intelligent influencer. Many other countries, such as Italy, France, and Spain, have similarly low survey results. Asian users are also more open-minded on this issue: 55 percent of Indian consumers, for example, have no problem with Gen AI influencers.

Regulation desired 

There is broad global consensus when it comes to regulation. The majority of consumers worldwide believe that Gen AI could be used more responsibly with the help of appropriate rules. For the vast majority, this includes labeling artificially generated content as such. 

Looking at the different generations, baby boomers in Germany (88 percent) in particular value appropriate labeling. But the younger Generation Z and millennials also agree, with 73 percent in favor. Unsurprisingly, older generations are generally far more skeptical about Gen AI than younger ones.

Understanding these differences is crucial for brands and media organizations that want to promote trust and support responsible use,"

emphasizes Philipp Schneider, Head of Marketing DACH at Yougov Germany.

Millennials are particularly open-minded

Millennials are the most open-minded toward Gen AI: for almost all types of content, from articles, videos, podcasts, and images to social media posts, almost a third of millennials feel comfortable with the use of Gen AI. Gen Z sees the situation similarly.

On the other hand, Baby Boomers do not feel comfortable with any type of content that has been artificially generated. Approval ratings are around ten percent in each case. Gen X, which falls between baby boomers and millennials, is similarly skeptical. However, acceptance of texts written with Gen AI is one percentage point higher among Gen X than among young Gen Z (22 percent).

Gen AI for brand communication

One finding from the study is particularly interesting for companies: According to the study, 20 percent of Germans across all generations feel comfortable with newsletters created using Gen AI. Another third are neutral about the smart tool for email campaigns. However, 37 percent feel uncomfortable with it, which is why the use of Gen AI should still be approached with caution. Even if companies use artificial intelligence in other areas, Germans can understand this. The study graphic below illustrates which areas these are.

This is a partly automated translation of this german article.