A recent study from digital asset management company Bynder revealed how consumers interact with AI versus human content in 2024.
As more people begin to use AI, consumer awareness of the telltale signs of content that is not human-made will likely increase. To test this, Bynder conducted a study to reveal how many people can tell when content is written entirely by AI and how this affects their engagement and opinions of the associated brand.
In a survey of 2,000 UK and US participants, Bynder featured two articles: one written by ChatGPT and one by a trained editor. Both had the same brief: “Write 300 words on how to clean your car.”
50% of consumers can spot AI-generated copies
The study concluded that 50% of consumers can correctly identify AI-generated copy.
Millennials (aged 25 to 34) were most successful in identifying non-human content, which corresponds to the age of consumers most likely to use AI when creating content.
US consumers are the most aware of signs of AI-generated content, with US participants 10% more likely to detect when content is AI-generated than UK consumers. A study in March 2023 found that 58% of American adults have heard of ChatGPT, but 42% have never heard of it. The number of Americans aware of AI means they are more likely to spot the content it generates.
55% of US participants correctly spotted which text was written using AI, compared to 45% of UK-based consumers. A study of British citizens found that only 26% have used a generative AI tool, significantly fewer than in the United States. This correlates with Bynder’s research findings that UK consumers are 10% less likely to spot AI-generated copy as they are less likely to use an AI tool like ChatGPT .
More than half of consumers feel more interested in AI-generated content
When presented with both articles (without being told which was which) 56% of participants said they preferred the AI version over the human-made article.
However, when asked about their attitude towards reading texts they suspect of being generated by AI in general, 52% of consumers indicated they will become less engaged.
Participants aged 16 to 24 were the only age group to find human-created content more engaging than the AI-generated version. Of those in this age group who had a preference, 55% voted for the human-written article as the most engaging.
Consumers find brands using AI impersonal, study finds
Participants were asked what they thought about reading AI-generated content on various platforms. In terms of website copy, 26% of participants would think the brand is impersonal if the copy doesn’t look like it was written by a human, and 20% would feel like the brand is lazy.
Similarly, for content on social media that appears to be generated by AI, 25% of consumers would find the brand impersonal, 20% untrustworthy, 20% would feel lazy and 19% would think they are not creative.
If a consumer interacts with a chatbot they suspect is AI-generated more than 30% would think that the associated brand is impersonal.
Warren Daniels, chief marketing officer at Bynder, said: “As AI advances and more marketers use it for content creation, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the best practice. Our research shows that as the use of AI increases, the most important element of a marketing campaign should be the human touch.
“AI offers significant benefits to marketers. Every year, marketers face the challenge of creating and managing more assets than the year before, and ever-evolving AI tools are a revolutionary way to make this task easier. However, responsible AI must always be a priority.
Bynder is the global leader in digital asset management and offers a range of AI tools, such as Content Workflow, as part of its software to help marketers every step of the way.
Bynder’s Content Workflow module is fully integrated with Bynder’s DAM. It combines editorial content and creative images for rapid execution, collaboration and delivery of exceptional content experiences.
Content Workflow allows marketers to benefit from the efficiency of generative AI within a platform that facilitates the human touch to ensure that all content created is as engaging and performing as possible.
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