Sixty percent of U.S. consumers say ‘AI’ in brand messaging is a turnoff, survey finds

Getting cited by AI is easier than earning consumers’ trust, according to a new report from WordPress VIP, the Automattic-owned company that offers an enterprise version of the WordPress publishing platform. As brands race to have their links appear in AI search results, consumers have grown more skeptical about whether they can actually trust the answers they’re getting. Per the report, 60% of consumers in the U.S. say that brands that use “AI” in their messaging are a turnoff, and 86% don’t fully trust AI and still want to explore original sources. Notably, 42% of consumers said that AI-generated answers without clear attribution are trusted less than airline fees, confusing privacy policies, and medical bills. Nearly three in four respondents said the internet feels “less human” than it did 10 years ago. Together, the findings paint a picture of a rapidly evolving digital landscape where brands are trying to adapt to a world beyond Google Search and traditional SEO, while also balancing the need to appear human-authored or risk losing their audience. As companies invest more in making their brand visible to AI search engines, consumers are placing greater value on transparency and attribution. “People used to build websites for other people,” said Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP, in a statement shared alongside the new report. “Now you have to build websites for AI agents acting on behalf of those people. …