Artificial intelligence is being shoved into everything these days. Ads, emails, product descriptions, social media posts. You name it. But a new survey from Gartner suggests many consumers are not exactly thrilled about brands leaning on generative AI when communicating with them.
According to Gartner, 50 percent of U.S. consumers say they would prefer to do business with brands that avoid using GenAI in consumer facing content like advertising, messaging, and marketing materials. That finding alone should make some marketers a bit uncomfortable, especially considering how aggressively companies have been pushing AI into their customer experiences over the past couple of years.
The survey, which included 1,539 U.S. consumers in October 2025, also paints a picture of a public that is becoming increasingly skeptical about the information it encounters online. Sixty one percent of respondents said they frequently question whether the information they rely on for everyday decisions is reliable. Meanwhile, 68 percent said they often wonder whether the content and information they see is actually real.
That kind of skepticism creates a tricky environment for companies that are pumping out AI generated marketing material. The technology might be capable of producing endless content at scale, but if consumers start questioning its authenticity, the strategy could easily backfire.
Emily Weiss, Senior Principal Analyst in the Gartner Marketing practice, said, “Marketers should treat GenAI as a trust decision as much as a technology decision. Consumers are questioning what’s real and making efforts to verify more of what they see. The brands that win will be the ones that use AI in ways customers can immediately recognize as helpful, while being transparent about when AI is used, what it’s doing, and giving customers a clear choice to opt out.”
Another interesting shift highlighted in the report involves how people decide what information is true. By the end of 2025, only 27 percent of consumers said they rely on intuition to determine whether something is accurate. More people are checking sources and verifying claims instead of simply trusting what they see.
Weiss also offered some practical advice for marketers trying to navigate the situation. “To reduce risk and build trust, marketers should make GenAI optional rather than mandatory, start with clearly assistive use cases that deliver immediate customer value, and label AI driven experiences, so people understand when and how AI is being used,” she said. “Marketers should also make verification easy by backing claims with clear proof points and governance, because consumers are increasingly skeptical about what they see and hear. When AI is transparent, helpful, and in the customer’s control, it can strengthen the experience instead of weakening trust.”
Personally, I am not surprised by these findings at all. We are already seeing the internet fill up with AI generated junk. Fake looking images, generic sounding blog posts, and marketing copy that feels like it was assembled by a machine instead of written by a person. Even when the content is technically correct, it often lacks personality or authenticity.
Companies may like the efficiency GenAI offers, but consumers still seem to value something far more old fashioned. A human voice that sounds genuine. If brands lose that, they risk losing something far more important than speed or scale. They risk losing trust.
Source: Nerd-XYZ
