Search Engine Journal Reports Audience Uses AI Despite Distrust
New data shows people use AI almost as often as those who don't have concerns, creating a gap between use and trust. This gap affects marketing strategies.
Original reporting · searchenginejournal.com
Original: “Your Audience Uses AI But Doesn’t Trust It – Build Content For The Gap via @sejournal, @gregjarboe”
Read “Your Audience Uses AI But Doesn’t Trust It – Build Content For The Gap via @sejournal,…” at Search Engine Journal →
How this was written. Content Delta wrote this article with a language model from Search Engine Journal’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Search Engine Journal’s report
- The audience uses AI despite distrusting it, creating a gap between use and trust.
- Data privacy and security are the leading concerns, followed by worries about over-reliance and distrust of AI companies.
- Segmenting audience research by AI usage and answering concerns directly can help build trust.
Your audience is using AI while doubting it, according to Search Engine Journal. New YouGov data shows people who worry about AI use it almost as often as people who don’t have concerns.
Search Engine Journal reported that two articles suggest how to plan for an audience that keeps using AI and keeps holding back its trust. The data says 89% of U.S. adults have at least one concern about using AI, and yet 55% use AI tools at least weekly.
The concerns themselves are specific, with data privacy and security leading at 63%. A majority worry about humans becoming over-reliant on AI, and many lack trust in AI companies and worry about the reliability of AI outputs.
Heaven’s argument is that people dislike the relentless drive of the companies behind AI to push the tech upon us in as many ways as possible. The data, however, says ambivalence, with roughly four in 10 Americans holding both feelings of concern and excitement at once.
The trend line also deserves a second look, with Pew’s concern figure jumping from 38% in 2022 to 52% in 2023. Since then, it has remained steady, with 51%, 50%, and 52% of U.S. adults being more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life.
Usage frequency splits the audience into camps, with weekly users saying AI’s impact on society has been very or mostly positive, and non-users saying it has been mostly or very negative. For marketers, it doesn’t matter whether use makes people more positive or whether optimists are the ones who adopt.
The practical mistake to avoid is treating AI usage as a vote of confidence. Instead, segment the audience research by AI usage, answer the concerns that are actually on the table, and say what the product cannot do.
Questions and answers
What is the main concern about AI among U.S. adults?
Data privacy and security lead at 63%.
How often do people who worry about AI use AI tools?
Among people with at least one concern, 55% still use AI weekly.
What can marketers do to build trust with their audience?
Segment audience research by AI usage, answer concerns directly, and say what the product cannot do.
