A new survey reveals that more than 80% of Americans can tell when an article was churned out by artificial intelligence, and many don’t like what they see.
Hookline&’s 2025 AI In Content Marketing Report, based on a survey of 1,000 Americans, exposes a growing scepticism toward AI in journalism and brand storytelling. While AI-generated content is flooding the internet, it seems human readers aren’t so easily fooled.
A staggering 82.1% of Americans say they can spot AI-generated content, and the number jumps to 88.4% among younger readers. If brands and writers thought they could pass off AI work as human-crafted, they might want to rethink their strategy.
AI writing? Thanks, but no thanks
Not only can readers detect AI, but many don’t enjoy reading it. Among those aged 45 to 65, the average age group of key decision-makers in many industries, 29.8% outright dislike AI-written content, while just 27.1% say they enjoy it. The rest are indifferent.
More than half (50.1%) of readers say they would think less of a writer if they knew AI was behind their content. Brands aren’t spared either. More than 40% of Americans say their opinion of a company would decline if they found out it relied on AI for content creation.
Despite the scepticism, readers aren’t rejecting AI entirely. Many are fine with writers using AI for brainstorming, research, editing, and data analysis. However, only 22.8% believe AI should be used to write content, and 12.6% want writers to avoid AI completely.
While AI can be a helpful tool, relying on it too much could backfire, leaving brands and writers scrambling to regain trust.