To Win with AI, Companies Must Provide Value to Consumers
Executive Summary
A survey of 1,001 Canadian consumers by Empirical Intelligence reveals a stark reality: AI use is a net-negative brand signal and few consumers want to spend any more on generative AI tools.
Key Findings
- AI is a Net-Negative Brand Signal: When consumers learn a company uses AI, 26.4% are less likely to buy, while only 7.3% are more likely.
- Weak Willingness To Pay for Generative AI: Many consumers (21-26%) intend to spend less on GenAI tools over the next year.
Implications for Business Leaders
- Rethink "AI" Messaging: Stop marketing the technology itself. Focus on tangible, consumer-centric outcomes.
- Identify True Consumer Needs: Invest in research to discover AI-powered features that resonate with end-users.
- Explore New Monetization Models: Subscription-based GenAI for consumers faces strong headwinds. Consider ad-supported, bundled, or adjacent revenue streams.
For companies to make money from Artificial Intelligence (AI), they need consumer buy-in. People must actually want the AI-powered products and services being offered, and, ideally, be willing to pay for them. At the same time, businesses need to ensure that using AI doesnโt trigger a backlash that hurts their bottom line.
In a recent survey, we asked a sample of 1,001 Canadian consumers two questions about AI.
The first question asked consumers whether they would be more or less likely to buy a product or service from a company after finding out that they use AI. Table 1 shows the results.
AI is currently a net-negative brand signal. Over 3.5 times more consumers are repelled by AI than attracted to it.
Only a tiny minority of consumers (7.3%) said they would be more likely to buy a product from a company after finding out that they use AI. Just over a quarter (26.4%) say that they would be less likely to buy from a company that uses AI.
| Reaction | Percentage |
| More likely to buy | 7.3% |
| Neither more nor less likely to buy | 58.2% |
| Less likely to buy | 26.4% |
| Don't know | 8.1% |
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ต.
We next asked consumers how much they plan to spend on generative AI (GenAI) tools over the next year. To determine whether benefits from generative AI would make consumers more likely to spend money on it, we ran an experiment. We asked a random half of the sample about their willingness to pay for "generative artificial intelligence AI tools." We asked the other half about "generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that improve your efficiency and productivity."
If benefits encourage consumers to spend more on generative AI, we should find that more consumers are willing to spend on GenAI in the group that reads about benefits than in the group that does not. We find a small difference between the two. Three percentage points more consumers are willing to spend more than now when they read about the benefits from GenAI than when they do not.
More importantly, very few consumers say they are willing to spend more on generative AI. Even in the group reading about benefits from GenAI, only 10% want to spend more on the technology. More than one out of five (21.1%) want to spend less than now, even when reading about GenAI benefits. Without those benefits, a quarter (25.6%) say they want to spend less.
| Randomly Assigned Description | ||
| Group A: Benefit Description | Group B: Generic Description | |
| More than now | 10.0% | 6.9% |
| The same as now | 49.5% | 43.9% |
| Less than now | 21.1% | 25.6% |
| Don't know | 19.4% | 23.6% |
Benefits Description: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that improve your efficiency and productivity. Generic Description: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Implications
These results suggest that consumers have limited interest in spending money on AI and on companies that use AI. However, we believe companies can convince consumers to be more positive about AI by offering consumers features that resonate with them.
What these results show is that AI on its own does not attract consumers. Without considering what consumers care about, AI actually repels them. Pointing to abstract benefits alone doesnโt attract consumersโ interest. Identifying concrete features may win them over.
Given that very few consumers plan to spend more on generative AI tools, GenAI providers may need to explore alternative ways to monetize their services. Options include advertising, bundling with other products, and adjacent revenue streams that donโt depend solely on subscriptions.
The era of selling 'AI' as a feature is over. To survive, companies have to pivot from selling technology to selling value to consumers.