A new survey finds that 43% of Americans have felt duped by AI-generated advertisements, and many say they struggle to tell real products from AI-generated ones even when put to the test.
The poll of 2,000 U.S. adults, commissioned by Auros and conducted by Talker Research, found that 44% of respondents say they frequently encounter products advertised using some form of AI. On average, people questioned whether an ad they saw online featured a real or AI-generated product about four times a week. More than half said they do not trust that AI-advertised products will match their descriptions.
Sixty-one percent of respondents believe at least one type of brand is likely to use misleading or AI-focused marketing. The industries seen as biggest offenders are clothing brands (16%), beauty and cosmetics (16%), electronics (14%), luxury goods (11%), and food and beverage brands (11%). Respondents pointed to Walmart (27%) and Amazon (26%) as the retailers most likely to use AI marketing, followed by social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook (24%).
Asked beforehand how confident they were in telling a real product from an AI one, 44% said they felt confident and 22% said they did not. When actually tested on real and fake product images, the results were mixed.
When shown real products, an average of 52% of respondents correctly identified them as real. Thirty-one percent mistakenly thought the real products were AI-generated, and 18% believed they were real products enhanced by AI. When shown fake, AI-generated products, only 42% correctly identified them as AI. Thirty-four percent thought the fake products were real, and 24% thought they were real products with AI enhancements.
The most confusion came from images of real products that had been enhanced with AI. Just 20% of respondents correctly identified these as real products with AI-enhanced features or surroundings; 60% assumed the images were entirely AI-generated, and 21% thought they were simply real.
The presence of AI in an ad also appears to color how people judge quality. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they believe a product is lower quality if AI was used in its marketing, while only 17% associated AI marketing with higher quality.
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