Most Consumers Wary of Fully AI-Generated Creative Content: Exclusive Survey
In this article
Consumers prefer media content produced by humans instead of generative AI, according to a recent survey by management consultancy Baringa shared exclusively with VIP+. The survey was fielded in January 2025 among a total 5,004 global respondents in the U.S., U.K., Australia, the Netherlands and Germany.
Most global consumers would be uncomfortable consuming fully AI-generated (70%) or AI-assisted (54%) creative content. For a third of consumers, that discomfort would prevent them from engaging with fully AI-generated content altogether, whether it be books, films, music or other types of creative media.
As generative AI tech becomes more prevalent, consumer willingness to engage with AI-generated or AI-assisted content ranks among the most relevant factors for media and entertainment decision makers as consumers ultimately decide where they spend their time and money with content.
Only a narrow segment of respondents — about one in 10 — say they’d be “very happy” with wholly AI-generated content spanning most media types.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, over a third would prefer always having the content they consume be created by humans. Another third would consume AI-generated content but only rarely or wouldn’t be totally comfortable with it.
In fact, consumer disinterest in fully AI-generated content has increased since last year. Over a third (35%) of respondents would never be happy to consume entirely AI-generated content under any circumstances, up from 29% last year. Younger generations were less likely to write it off completely, but every age group showed increases in the share of respondents who expressed unequivocal disinterest.
Tastes can adapt to new media, but the perception of quality still generally dictates whether consumers devote time and money to content. However impressive some AI-generated content looks, much of it is categorically “slop.”
Indeed, some are more willing to engage if AI-generated content is high quality. About one in five consumers were ambivalent about whether AI was used to create content if that content was good. For example, several upstart AI film and TV studios are discovering methods and crafting hybrid workflows to allow them to achieve high-quality content, on par or indistinguishable from that made without AI tools.
But even if fully AI content was as high quality as something produced by a human, it might not move the needle for disengaged consumers: 37% said they’d be happy to consume AI content if it was as high quality as human made, such as if they couldn’t tell the difference, though that was down from 44% last year.
This suggests consumers have other priorities than just quality when engaging with content. Different media types carry different concerns related to the use of generative AI, so it’s hard to unilaterally isolate the precise concerns deterring consumers from AI-generated content.
But the biggest reasons consumers said they valued human-made over AI-generated content centered around the perception that it was more authentic and original. They also simply cared about the influence of the human creator or knowing there is a human behind the content.
One way of giving consumers greater assurance about the driving human influence in creating the content they’re consuming is by simply disclosing more information about when and how AI was used and the humans involved in content creation. Most consumers want such disclosures whether content was wholly generated with AI (24%) or just partly (53%). Furthermore, 61% would like to see creative companies taking the lead on disclosure.
Disclosure itself could be challenging for media companies. Given the novelty, complexity and controversy of gen AI, media and entertainment companies will need to think carefully about effective methods of disclosure if or when they use AI in order to educate rather than estrange consumers.
Consumer backlash has already surfaced when it’s come out that AI was used in aspects of content creation, such as to make promotional material for films, TV or games, and further was one of the top reasons that U.S. media and entertainment decision makers said was a barrier to adopting generative AI at all, according to a May 2024 VIP+ survey.
Consumer attitudes toward AI in content will shift over time, as AI content becomes increasingly prevalent but also as consumers grow more knowledgeable, whether through direct use of tools themselves, accessing information or experiencing its impact.
Yet taken together, the data suggests most consumers don’t want fully AI-generated content, they care about the central role of human creativity, and they want to understand when and how AI has been used in the creation of a work.
