Consumers in the United States and United Kingdom are skeptical of artificial intelligence in retail and say merchants gather too much of their personal information, according to a ThoughtSpot survey published last week.
The report, titled “Trust, Tested,” is based on a survey that found 74% of respondents agree retailers collect too much personal data, with 36% agreeing strongly and 5% disagreeing. Agreement was 76% in the U.K. and 72% in the U.S.
Only 13% of consumers said they trust AI-powered product recommendations, while 47% said they distrust them and 34% were neutral. Asked how often AI has misread their needs or suggested the wrong item, 10.9% said very often, 16.2% said often, 31.1% said sometimes and 8.0% said rarely. Only 5.3% said never; 28.5% did not know.
When respondents named the source they trust most for a purchase decision, 42.6% cited friends or family and 27.1% cited customer reviews. AI recommendations were named by 1.4%, below social media influencers at 2.5%.
Ninety-one percent of consumers identified at least one personalization tactic as intrusive. The most cited were tracking behavior across other websites or apps at 57.6%, recommending products too frequently at 56.7%, using real-time location at 48.8%, and predicting needs before interest is shown and referencing sensitive topics, each at 48.7%. Use of information consumers knowingly provided was cited by 27.8%.
Asked what would increase their trust, 34.0% named transparency about what data is used to make recommendations, 31.4% an option to opt out of AI personalization, 30.6% clear explanations of why items are recommended and 29.8% human customer support alongside AI recommendations.
The survey also measured the cost of errors. Fifty-nine percent said they would be unlikely to shop again with a retailer whose AI recommended products outside their price range, and 53% said the same after a significantly late delivery. U.K. respondents were more likely than U.S. respondents to say they would not return in both scenarios.
Respondents could pick up to two types of organizations they distrust most with personal data. Tech companies led at 56.4%, followed by government bodies at 41.8%, retailers at 30.8% and financial services or banks at 19.9%.
