March 17, 2026
Half of U.S. Consumers Would Rather Avoid Brands That Use GenAI in Their Content, Gartner Finds
Brands have spent the past two years racing to embed generative AI into their marketing. According to new Gartner research, half of their customers would rather they hadn’t.
A survey of 1,539 U.S. consumers conducted in October 2025 found that 50% say they would prefer to give their business to brands that do not use GenAI in consumer-facing content, a finding that turns the AI adoption conversation from a question of capability to one of consumer consent.
The 50% figure specifically refers to brands using GenAI in consumer-facing messages, advertising, and content. Growing consumer adoption of GenAI tools for personal use, Gartner notes, does not automatically translate into tolerance for AI-generated brand experiences.
Sixty-one percent of respondents say they frequently question whether the information they use to make everyday decisions is reliable. Meanwhile, 68% say they frequently wonder whether content and information they encounter online is real. Given that, AI-generated brand content is landing in front of consumers who are already on high alert.
What Is Real and What’s Not — That Is the Question
Consumer scepticism is making them actively verify what they see rather than take it at face value. By the end of 2025, only 27% of consumers said they rely on intuition to determine whether information is true. The rest have shifted toward active checking and independent verification.
Emily Weiss, Senior Principal Analyst in the Gartner Marketing practice, described the situation as a trust decision as much as a technology one. She said: “Consumers are questioning what’s real and making efforts to verify more of what they see. The brands that win will be the ones that use AI in ways customers can immediately recognise as helpful, while being transparent about when AI is used, what it’s doing, and giving customers a clear choice to opt out.”
Her recommendations for marketers are to make GenAI optional rather than mandatory, start with use cases where the AI benefit to the customer is obvious, and label AI-driven experiences so consumers understand what they are interacting with. On the content side, she advises backing claims with clear proof points rather than relying on assertions alone, since consumers are increasingly likely to check.
Who Benefits Matters
A separate Gartner survey published earlier in 2025 found that 51% of customers said they would be comfortable letting a GenAI assistant handle support interactions on their behalf. The apparent contradiction is not necessarily a paradox, because consumers may be open to AI performing tasks for them while remaining resistant to AI being used on them, particularly in marketing contexts where the relationship between brand interest and consumer interest is less clear-cut.
Other research shows that AI transparency is becoming a non-negotiable expectation in customer-facing deployments, with 91% of consumers in one study saying they expect an explanation for AI-made decisions. The Gartner marketing data reinforces that theme from the opposite direction: the absence of transparency, or even just the suspicion of AI involvement without disclosure, is enough to push consumers toward a competitor.
