Consumer trust of GenAI begins to shift as regulators catch up
The majority of people aware of and using AI believe it is something which can improve products, boost employee experiences, and benefit society – with a growing number engaging with it thanks to improved regulation. According to Deloitte, while frequent users remain a minority in Europe, a third of users now tap the technology at least once a week for personal and work-related tasks.
Earlier in 2024, a study from Deloitte found that just one-third of UK residents had experimented with some form of generative AI, and even fewer people were regular users. That figure may have shifted since, with the Big Four firm having polled 30,252 consumers and employees in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to find that 44% of respondents now have used the technology.
Admittedly, a majority still had not used AI tools – two years after they burst onto the scene with a flurry of hype, amid the public release of ChatGPT – and while 22% knew of AI tools but had not used them, some 34% were somehow unaware or unsure of any such thing. But as AI developers push to demonstrate the profitability of their tools, which have cost record sums of investment to create and train, this meagre progress at least resembles a step in the right direction.
Examining the figures more closely, Deloitte found that of the people who had used AI, most were still casual fans rather than repeat customers. A 30% portion gen AI users access the tools at least weekly for personal use, while 33% leverage it for work-related activities. Of that, primarily focuses on general search and information gathering were the top uses at 47%, followed closely by idea generation at 40%.
And while this is still a minority, the number using AI will grow steadily in the future. if the opinions of the technology’s regular users are anything to go by. One of the long-time sticking points of AI adoption among consumers has been a trust barrier.
According to the 13,000 respondents who were aware of and using generative AI tools, 71% said they trusted the technology to improve products and services for businesses, and 66% said it could create a better work experience for employees. In particular, a majority of 51% said they trusted businesses and organisations to use the tools responsibly.
Notably, 53% of gen AI users in Europe believe adoption would increase if their governments properly regulated the technology. As governments catch up with the technology, with the launch of the EU AI Act (which came into effect on August 1, 2024) and its equivalents, consumer trust may rise further – and with it, the prevalence of GenAI use.
