AI’s expectation gap 

Editor’s note: Tara Tyson is managing director and Kimberly Marsh is custom research director for media, entertainment and tech at The Harris Poll. 

Most consumers say they are familiar with artificial intelligence (69%), yet there appears to be a disconnect between what they think they know about the technology and the AI that brands offer today. Much of the current cultural conversation around AI revolves around its ability to summarize language, generate images and converse with – or on behalf of – humans, but consumers’ own conceptions of AI vary, frequently populated with robots, machines and computers, occasionally entering sci-fi territory and, for some, what’s marketed today as AI is little more than a repackaged replica of the past.

If consumers aren’t at a consensus around what AI is, it may be difficult for them to embrace it, which tracks with their lack of enthusiasm, curiosity and trust in the technology – and importantly for brands, motivation to buy products with AI. 

But an examination of emotional responses to AI suggests consumers may be more open than they first appear.

Consumer views on the AI landscape: Influences shaping AI acceptance

Despite consumers’ lack of stated enthusiasm for AI, they have positive feelings around its potential for innovation, creativity and helpfulness.

While most consumers state that their interest and opinions around AI are at neutral or negative levels, The Harris Poll’s Implicit Association Testing, which reveals unconscious responses, demonstrates that their primary emotional reactions to AI orient around more positive notions like power, innovation and creativity.

Mixed emotions emerge – AI feels as “concerning” as it does “helpful” (53%) – but positive associations dominate the top half of implicit association testing descriptions, demonstrating a greater underlying openness than consumers may even be cognitively aware they have yet.

But though AI is seen as a time saver and efficiency creator, it generates more shoulder shrugs than FOMO right now.

Consumers often recognize AI’s benefits, with its potential to save time leading the reasons they would use it, along with the hope that it will help make things easier for people: jobs, tasks of all complexities, life in general.

Still, for many consumers, AI is an abstraction right now and while it may offer upside, it may be upside that is more nice-to-have than necessary, as a majority of consumers say AI is not something they need – at least, not yet.

Consumer views on the AI landscape: Opportunities for AI integration

Consumers feel AI fits life best distanced from their personal lives – but they also don’t know who it is a fit for.

Even if some consumers acknowledge AI could yield advantages like saving time, many don’t yet feel AI is something that fits snugly into their lives. Implicit association testing shows that consumers align AI most with areas that are distanced from their intimate lives but are integrated with transactions and consumption; in addition to the top areas below, consumers feel retail (38%) and TV/film (36%) are “good” candidates for AI. But the closer AI gets to their daily personal lives, the less inclined consumers feel to have it there, underscoring their worries around trust.

Consumers may also keep AI at arm’s length because they don’t see it as a technology designed for them – in fact, they don’t see it as having a core audience.

However, there is a sense that the main intended users are societally advantaged groups with control and influence, like businesses and the rich, and this perception likely makes AI feel more like a force that pulls apart instead of pushes together: close to two-thirds of respondents agree that AI could create more division among humans (62%); only a quarter think AI could help build understanding among humans. 

Consumer views on the AI landscape: Looking ahead at AI 

Unsure of the future AI promises, consumers need brands to show not only what AI means but why it’s meaningful.

Uncertainty about new technology is nothing new itself – after all, even the now ubiquitous smart phone once had its doubters – and AI is likely to be no different: only 22% of consumers see AI as a fad that will fade, an acknowledgment that it will likely become part of the rich tapestry of most modern lives eventually. But when asked what they expect of AI in the near future, many consumers simply say that they don’t know. AI is being marketed to the most technologically advanced humans that have ever lived – so the bar for getting consumer buy-in is high, and brands haven’t yet reached it.

Consumers’ perceptions around what exactly AI offers right now may be fuzzy, but the reasons they reject AI are more defined, led by concerns about AI’s ethical implications (40%) and a lack of trust in the technology (40%). These hesitations, though, create a path forward for brands: on the road to AI acceptance, consumers will need clear signs of its safety and reliability. 

Still, many consumers wonder why brands are trying to construct a road to AI acceptance at all, since AI’s existence doesn’t yet seem essential – and is sometimes perceived as a potential risk to consumers’ own existence. Most consumers worry AI will replace humans (65%), an indication that the technology feels threatening when AI’s vibe should be friendly, based in allyship, advocacy and assistance. 

Unlocking AI’s potential

Recognizing that there are positive consumer sentiments toward AI that underlie the present adoption anxieties is a good place to start – developing efforts to “meet the consumers where they are.” These results seem to indicate that the success of an AI product or service not only depends on the product itself but also reinforcement of the position and the communication strategy.

The AI vibe should also be meaningful. A third of consumers agree that AI feels high tech and futuristic (35%), which they like, but just being cool may not count enough. Brands must demonstrate how AI will reflect and amplify the multitudes that humans contain: as one respondent in this study puts it, “I hope AI will be looked upon as a mirror of who we are” (male, 65+). The intelligence may be artificial, but consumers still want brands to promise that using it will feel like a human experience.  


Data source: 2024-2025 The Harris Poll AI Thought-Leadership Study (AI Landscape from the Consumer POV) using an online survey methodology with proprietary implicit association testing, among U.S. general population, n=997.