March 11, 2026
Europeans Are AI’s Biggest Fans Until Brands Ruin It With Slop
Europeans are the most trusting AI users on the planet, yet a growing frustration with low-quality AI-generated content is starting to erode that goodwill, according to new research from marketing platform Klaviyo.
The study surveyed consumers across Europe, the US, and Australia, finding that European AI trust levels run 33% higher than those in the US and three times higher than in Australia.
Around 70% fall into what Klaviyo classifies as “Enthusiast” or “Evaluator” personas, the people who use AI regularly and see genuine value in it. The remaining 30% are either Sceptics, who apply caution, or Holdouts, who have largely opted out.
Millions of people use AI daily, whether for work, school, or to participate in the latest image edit trend. Sixty percent of European consumers use AI at least weekly, and nearly half rely on it while shopping. Almost a third (31%) reach for an AI search engine first when they need to understand something complex. More than half (58%) say they have had an AI “aha” moment in the past six months, most often when the technology broke down a complex topic into something understandable, found information they couldn’t locate themselves, or delivered a recommendation that genuinely landed.
AI has become deeply embedded in people’s daily lives, so much so that 82% include emotional or personal context in their prompts, and 28% use eight or more words in a single search query. These are not the terse, keyword-style inputs of early search engine use but whole sentences consumers would ask another human, with the expectations to match.
The ‘AI Slop’ Problem
The almighty technology has become a game-changer for the retail and ecommerce sector, because of its recommendation and surfacing capabilities that have significantly boosted sales. Nearly half of European respondents (46%) say they have bought something recommended by an AI tool in the past six months. Electronics is the category where AI assistance is most common, with 70% of consumers using it to work through technical comparisons. Almost 50% of consumers turn to AI when booking accommodation, and 42% asking AI for restaurant picks.
High adoption, however, is coming with unwanted side effects. More than 75% of European consumers say they have noticed low-quality AI-generated content, commonly referred to as “AI slop”, in the past six months. Almost 40% encounter it weekly. Social media is the most common source (42%), followed by advertisements (30%). People can often ‘feel’ when the content was made without human craft, lacking nuance or context.
As a result, consumers can feel deceived and trust brands less when they continuously encounter AI content. While 44% of respondents feel confident they can tell AI-generated content apart from human-created content, 28% say they feel uncomfortable when AI produces inaccurate or misleading responses, and 21% say they are less likely to open a brand message if it feels poorly personalised. Given that building consumer trust through genuine, relevant communication is foundational to long-term loyalty, these figures represent a meaningful vulnerability for any brand that deploys AI without adequate quality control.
European consumers are far from being AI-averse, but the runway for low-effort, AI-generated content is shrinking. Volume without quality is costing brands something they cannot easily buy back: trust.
