2026
9
UK Consumers and AI: 2026
2026-04-29T08:01:19+00:00
REP5C7BFE6B_9214_4693_BBFE_6B921416931E
2195
193024
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Report
en_GB
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."

Joe Birch, Senior Technology and Leisure Analyst

Joe Birch, Senior Technology and Leisure Analyst

UK Consumers and AI – Key Insights

  • 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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  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. APPENDIX

    • Consumer research questions
    • Consumer research methodology – EMEA
    • UK generation groups
    • Abbreviations

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