Over the past few years, the use of artificial intelligence has rapidly shifted from a futuristic concept to a routine part of our everyday lives, putting generative AI in the hands of regular people.

Just last year, the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Alan Turing Institute published the results of a survey on public attitudes to artificial intelligence in Britain. It’s a marker of how quickly technology has advanced that the 2022 survey didn’t cover product reviews or search results – two areas where AI is almost unavoidable today.

Our latest market research uncovers fresh insights into how regular people in the UK feel about the use of AI in product reviews and what this means for brands hoping to integrate AI into their customer journey.

How do people feel about using AI for product reviews?

When asked how they felt about the use of AI to create product reviews, only 30% of the British public were for it.

Perhaps predictably, people who rate their digital abilities as higher than average feel more positive about AI usage, while people who rate their skills as below average tend to feel more negative.

Given the correlation between digital literacy and sentiment about artificial intelligence, it’s possible that some of the distrust stems from confusion around how exactly companies use generative AI to create product reviews.

The most notable example is Amazon, which started implementing AI-generated summaries of customer reviews on their product pages in 2023.

Who is most receptive to AI usage for shopping?

There was a clear generational divide in opinion, with Gen Z and millennials more likely to feel positively about AI usage in general and people over the age of 40 more likely to feel neutral or against it. People between the ages of 31-35 had the most positive view of AI-generated product reviews, specifically.

People with children were more receptive to AI usage, probably because automatically generated results can save time for busy parents.

Brand messaging around AI usage

Disinformation and biased results are amongst the top concerns around AI for personal use, so transparency is key for convincing less tech-savvy consumers that product reviews that use artificial intelligence are still trustworthy.

To that end, it’s important to make sure that the underlying algorithm is as unbiased as possible, as giving equal weight to positive and negative customer reviews will instil more trust than artificially skewing towards positive feedback.

Amazon labels their summaries as “AI-generated from the text of customer reviews,” a simple way of signposting that they use AI to provide an overview of what real customers have said about the product.

Brands would do well to emphasise the convenience and accuracy of AI-generated summaries in helping people shop more efficiently.

What’s next for AI in online shopping?

Many brands already use chatbots to address customer service queries, but Amazon has gone a step further with the recent launch of an AI-powered shopping assistant.

As AI capabilities become more readily available, other companies are likely to follow in the online retail giant’s footsteps by using AI to aggregate product reviews and help customers find the right products for their needs.

Although it remains to be seen how effective these tools will be in driving sales, brands should start thinking now about how artificial intelligence can improve specific aspects of the online shopping experience on their websites.

Most importantly, brands should make sure that they can integrate AI without sacrificing authenticity and connection with their customer base, who may still be wary of the technology.

For more on recent developments in artificial intelligence, read our article on the impact of generative AI in education.

To find out how Clusters can help you map and improve your brand’s customer journey, get in touch with us today.