There is a lot of reporting on AI today, but what does the average consumer think of the topic? To answer that question, we questioned people across the United States using Suzy. Suzy is a real-time consumer intelligence software that taps into an online community of consumers who are willing to provide their feedback on various company’s initiatives. The end benefit for companies is that Suzy provides a pulse on how the consumer market feels regarding a specific topic. We asked Suzy seven questions on AI – each of which had a different pool of respondents, ranging from n=51 to n=501. To our surprise, we learned that the majority of consumers are comfortable with AI – not afraid of it. We also learned some valuable insights that brands should consider when bringing their AI products/services to market.
Overall, most consumers felt that AI will impact their life for the better, though many don’t understand how that will happen. There is optimism about its potential to make life easier, save the environment, and help in other areas. Since there is a general sense of optimism, brands can leverage that to inspire consumers on the potential of AI to tap directly into that consumer excitement.
Consumers also indicated they generally feel good about companies using AI. When asked which companies they know of using AI, respondents were generally aware of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google. These major technology companies are fairly mainstream. This leads us to believe that AI is a mainstream conversation, not an esoteric one. Companies shouldn’t be afraid to jump into the conversation and embrace AI.
Interestingly, 62% of respondents self-reported having average to expert knowledge in AI, but in a separate question, only roughly 15% of consumers were able to describe it accurately. To that end, we think its important that companies define their unique point of view on AI for consumers. For example, Microsoft is positioning itself as a teacher in AI by providing free AI classes to help increase the AI talent pool and democratize AI. Tactics that define a point of view could help differentiate your AI offering and support the collective understanding of what the AI category is (think: Google Home) and isn’t (think: killer robots) for consumers.
Thanks to the support of Suzy, we believe companies using AI should consider three items to position their products to resonate with consumers.
1. Inspire. Make sure you tap into that optimism and excitement.
2. Jump in. AI is mainstream, make sure to embrace it.
3. Define. Craft your unique point of view to help differentiate yourself and also support codifying the definition of the AI category for consumers.
If you would like to learn more about Suzy, please contact Bryan Silverman. Additionally, if you have opinions on our insights, please feel free to contact Win Platt.
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