UK consumers have a contradictory relationship with AI. While half believe its risks outweigh the benefits, 45% find products with AI features more appealing. This paradox shapes the market, as…
UK
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
simple
UK Consumers and AI: 2026
"While consumers have mixed feelings about AI, practical, everyday tools can help build their confidence. However, data privacy remains a primary concern brands will need to navigate."
Mintel’s research shows that UK consumers have a contradictory relationship with AI. While half believe its risks outweigh the benefits, 45% find products with AI features more appealing. This paradox shapes the market, as people separate AI into two categories, helpful productivity tools and disruptive threats. The key difference is agency. Consumers welcome AI when they can control it, but reject it when it makes important decisions for them.
AI search is causing a major industry shift, with 56% of UK AI users now using it daily. This trend requires brands to adapt their strategies from traditional SEO to answer/generative engine optimisation (A/GEO). To stay visible, brands must become trusted, data-driven sources for AI models to use and recommend. This change redefines what brand authority and visibility mean in an AI-driven world.
The biggest opportunity lies in reliability-first AI, which seamlessly integrates into consumer journeys, particularly appealing to younger, urban, high-income and diverse audiences. The greatest threat is eroding consumer trust, driven by concerns over privacy, employment, and the displacement of human oversight in significant life interactions. Brands must avoid overvaluing new features at the expense of trust, and be mindful of using AI generated content as a shortcut to achieving or maintaining clear brands values.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
Key factors impacting the AI market including supply chain disruption, as semiconductor and RAM shortages reshape consumer device markets and pricing models
Cognitive dissonance and the gap between consumer desire for AI utility and fear of loss of control
The strategic shift in search from providing links to delivering direct answers, and what this means for data visibility and brand discovery
Navigating consumer readiness for AI innovations, including challenges such as building trust, securing data permissions and maintaining human oversight
Uncovering commercial opportunities in the AI sector, such as consumer willingness to pay for premium AI tools and the influence of AI features on technology purchasing decisions
Consumer attitudes towards AI, including privacy, deepfakes, copyright, and the upside of increased personalisation and convenience
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
What you need to know
Outlook for consumers and AI – UK
Opportunities
The consumer contradiction that defines their attitudes towards AI
Use AI to augment the lived human experience, don’t try and displace it
Search is changing and brands must adapt
Extend your wellness space into AI ecosystems
THE MARKET
Use of AI in consumer-facing products and services
AI tools in financial services will need to overcome scepticism and concerns over data security
Graph 1: “I would be interested in using an AI tool that used my financial data to…”, 2025
Consumers want more predictive health analysis
Graph 2: interest in AI innovations to improve health, 2025
AI can create more personalised news content
Personalising AI chatbots can improve consumer appreciation
Graph 3: “I am more likely to use AI tools than a search engine to search for travel inspiration”, by age of children in the household, 2025
Retail brands can leverage AI for inspiration but must remain vigilant
Graph 4: interest in using emerging technologies when shopping online, 2025
Market drivers
Consumers still have a defensive mindset when it comes to financial outgoings, which will be exacerbated by the Middle East crisis
Graph 5: index of financial sentiment in the next year, 2016-26
Big tech invests heavily in AI infrastructure…and hype
But many fear the AI bubble could burst
AI boom sparks global semiconductor and RAM shortage as manufacturers prioritise enterprise over consumer markets
Consumers are being primed daily about the imminent threats and impact of AI
Brands can reap rewards of agentic AI if they see off consumer scepticism
Graph 6: reasons for discomfort with AI handling activities on their behalf, 2025
Regulatory landscape
Laws come into force to protect consumers from AI harms
UK Gov introduces AI growth zones and AI-powered healthcare solutions
OpenAI lays out plans for AI future governance
THE CONSUMER
Consumer knowledge and understanding of AI
Consumer knowledge and understanding of AI is growing
Graph 7: knowledge of AI, 2023-25
Self-professed knowledge of AI is higher with younger generations
Older consumers show greater concern over AI’s prominence, but this doesn’t translate into rejection
Graph 8: concerns over AI’s impact, 2023-25
U-curve of concern with those with differing knowledge bases
Transparency will help build trust in AI
Consumer use of AI
Many people may not realise they’ve been using AI for decades
Graph 9: use of AI, 2025
Adoption rates of AI vary by age and gender
Lead with concrete use cases, not the AI label
Frequency of use of AI tools
AI is being integrated into regular workflows, with creativity playing a secondary role
Graph 10: use of AI services at least once per week in the last three months, 2025
AI is rewriting the rules of discovery for brands
Graph 11: frequency of use of AI services to find information, 2025
Consumers see AI as a study aid
AI can effectively triage consumers in personal areas
Graph 12: frequency of use of AI tools for personal advice, 2025
AI is becoming a life tool for younger consumers
Text generating can help speed up product queries and support
Graph 13: frequency of use of AI tools for translation and text editing, 2025
AI creativity tools can tarnish brands’ reputations
Graph 14: frequency of use of AI tools for creativity, 2025
Consumer attitudes towards AI innovations
Tangible low-risk utility can be an entry point for AI systems and apps
Graph 15: “I would be comfortable with AI…”, 2025
Brands that want to offer agentic solutions will need to clearly explain the privacy trade-offs
Different demographics have different priorities from AI
Limited appeal for agentic AI capabilities for higher risk activities
Graph 16: “I would be comfortable with AI…”, 2025
Consumer habits will be hard to change overnight
Consumer attitudes towards AI: trust, anxiety and the limits of automation
Consumers hold conflicting views over AI
Graph 17: attitudes towards AI risks and benefits, 2025
Men are more likely to be swayed by AI features in tech products
How brands can navigate consumers’ complex attitudes towards AI
The human empathetic touch can be a premium value-add
Premium AI tool interest is a small but valuable market
Graph 18: “I would pay £20 a month to use premium AI tools and services (eg ChatGPT Plus, Google AI Pro)”, by age and gender, 2025
Highest-income households will drive premium AI take up
Consumers have significant concern over AI-generated creative works
Graph 19: “I think AI-generated content (eg music, videos) feels like it’s stolen from humans”, by age, 2025
Attitudes towards AI; consumers’ hopes and fears
Consumers feel the information environment has been degraded by AI
Graph 20: UK attitudes towards AI authenticity (% any agree), by age, 2025
Significant distrust over chatbot accuracy persists
Consumers fear for their personal security and livelihood
Graph 21: UK attitudes towards AI safety (% any agree), 2025
Make privacy a visible product feature, not a buried policy
Graph 22: brands that are transparent about their use of AI are more trustworthy than those that aren’t (% any agree), 2025
Despite open reservations, consumers are still hopeful about AI having a positive impact on society
Graph 23: UK attitudes towards AI in consumers lives (% any agree), by gender, 2025
Younger consumers hopeful for a positive AI future
Convenience and personalisation will be at the heart of consumer adoption
PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING
Key players
OpenAI targets first hardware release and enterprise tools as it shutters Sora
Google launches its new personalised AI assistant and conversational assistant
Meta hopes to dominate the AI smart glasses space
Amazon launches its long awaited Gen AI update to its voice assistant – Alexa+
Apple teases long-awaited update to Siri
Voice assistant status in the UK
Launch activity and innovation
A major push towards agentic AI
The new Alexa is ready to work wonders for you
Web browsers and wearables get the AI treatent
APPENDIX
Consumer research questions
Consumer research methodology – EMEA
UK generation groups
Abbreviations
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