For products where it is stated that AI has been involved in their development or production, consumers' willingness to buy is reduced.
Artificial intelligence is not very attractive to buy products where it is involved in the development or production. According to a study published in the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, mentioning AI in product descriptions decreases consumers' willingness to buy and, in turn, may even induce fear and apprehension.
"When you say AI, people tend to trust it less emotionally, which also reduces their willingness to buy," says Mesut Cicek, lead author of the study, in an interview with WSU Insider, adding: "We found that emotional trust plays a major role in how consumers perceive AI-based products."
Negative emotions are more pronounced in riskier categories, such as expensive electronics, financial services or medical devices. In addition, a recent survey of PC users found that up to 84% of respondents would not pay extra for added AI features in hardware.
The question of to what extent the high costs invested in the development of generative AI pay off is being asked by more than one major player in the market today. Unilever, which has now deployed over 500 AI features across its portfolio, argues that these innovations are not to drive sales, but to reflect the technological capabilities of their respective brands.
Unilever is launching most of its AI innovations in Asian markets, where consumers are generally more open to new technologies and AI. Thus, in the Philippines and Thailand, the company introduced BeautyHub PRO, a tool that recommends products based on a selfie and a questionnaire. Orders increased by 39% thanks to these AI recommendations. In Indonesia and the Philippines, the brand launched Pond's Skin Institute, a skincare diagnostic tool that suggests suitable products based on analysis.
While there is now talk of AI's high potential for business, companies often face high upfront costs to invest in its development. Moreover, they often feel pressured by competitors to go into AI at any cost. For example, The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out that CIOs feel pressured to implement AI even where other technologies would solve the problem. "Generative AI is not a panacea for everything," mentions Sridhar Sharma, CIO of Mr. Cooper, adding: "In fact, in some cases it's not even effective, and sometimes it's even dangerous."
Source: mediaguru.cz
