Commentary

Epoch AI: Consumers Are Nervous About Privacy

by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 29, 2024

Consumers are nervous about AI’s impact on their privacy, judging by Engagement to Empowerment, a new global study by Merkle.

The respondents are concerned with:

Whether your data and privacy identity is being protected — 58%
Whether the technology could be tracked or hijacked to cause harm — 57%
Whether the technology was recording you — 51%
Whether the technology was tracking you (after you stop using it ) —50%
Whether the technology put human beings out of work — 50%
Whether you could get support or help from a human — 49%
Whether the technology could provide you with the correct output or answer — 46%
Whether the technology could understand what you want it to do — 46%
Whether the technology was supervised or monitored by a human being — 44%
Whether the technology was based (ethically, politically, racially, etc.) — 41%
Whether you could opt out of the technology — 39%
Whether you could understand how to use/interact with the technology — 38%

AI aside, consumers seem fairly trusting about use of their customer data by brands:

When I interact with (category) I generally trust how that company is collecting and using my personal/customer data — 48%
When a (category) brand tailors communications to me personally, for instance, by showing me ads for products I have recently searched for, I generally find it useful or helpful — 45%
When I interact with (category) brand, I think the company is mainly interested in using my personal/customer data to improve my customer experience — 38%

Email remains a popular channel, even it it is a low-impact one.

Self-service checkout payment systems and personalized emails/messages are the most frequently experienced emerging tech that consumers deem least impactful.

Still, those two functions are at the top of the usage list: