US Consumers and AI: 2025
AI awareness among US consumers is high, with a significant portion of adults using AI tools in personal and professional settings.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Market size & forecast
- Market predictions
- For new tech, AI is widely used but still needs time to reach its full potential
- Sometimes letting AI do it just isn’t fun, or as good, as doing it yourself
- AI recreations of people are a non-starter for most consumers
- We’re becoming experts at counting fingers and identifying slop
- Opportunities with consumers and AI
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MARKET DYNAMICS
- Market context
- Market share/brand share
- The AI marketplace is made up of many manufacturers, models, and services
- Investing in AI to avoid paying people is both unimaginative and a deeply cynical use of tech
- Government lobbying will meddle in the AI-enabled future that Americans are allowed to have
- And so, the government quickly did just that
- For now, open-source AI remain available but shrouded by lack of widespread awareness
- Market drivers
- Understanding AI’s role in the actors’ and writers’ strikes
- MechaHitler shows that AI are vulnerable to human manipulation in front of and behind the screen
- Pushing back the tidal wave of AI slop will be a Sisyphean task without strict regulation
- Modern day Marie Antoinette suggests laid off employees should use AI to feel better
- Overly agreeable AI can cause reality distorting AI-induced psychosis in human users
- Deepdive into AI court cases
- Court cases and stock prices tossed because of AI hallucinations
- Gen AI was built by piracy and theft
- The difference between copyright violation and transformative media is central to many legal topics on AI
- Disney and Universal vs Midjourney lawsuit
- Crush AI innovation or protecting copyright holders
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CONSUMER INSIGHTS
- Consumer fast facts
- AI familiarity and usage
- For new tech, AI is widely used but still needs time to reach its full potential
- Graph 1: AI familiarity and usage, 2025
- Middle-aged men are hyped for AI, but younger adults embrace it equally
- Graph 2: AI familiarity and usage, by gender, 2025
- Younger adults’ engagement with AI reflects not just tech familiarity but employers demands to streamline and maximize productivity, or else
- Graph 3: AI familiarity and usage, by age, 2025
- Students love AI, that’s a blessing and a curse for more than just teachers
- Graph 4: using AI at work and/or personal life, by student status, 2025
- AI use cases and interest
- Let people turn AI off before they’re turned off
- AIs are already hawking products in Google’s output – by the way, your favorite burger-spot™ is 10% off on Doordash, click here
- Graph 5: AI use cases and interest, 2025
- Sometimes letting AI do it just isn’t fun, or as good, as doing it yourself
- Graph 6: AI use cases in the last three months, by gender, 2025
- Learning how to use AI may be its greatest barrier, if it’s going to work it should be as easy as talking to a person
- Graph 7: AI use cases in the last three months, by age, 2025
- Practical AI should connect information across subjects and tie ideas together
- Graph 8: have not used in the last three months, but would be interested in using in the future, by age, 2025
- Transparency and ethical practices are key to building trust
- Graph 9: AI use cases in the last three months, by race, 2025
- Trust in AI
- AI is a useful tool, but not a replacement for people
- Trust in AI tools is hampered by its potential for invasions of privacy and widespread lack of transparency in rapid implementations
- Graph 10: I would trust an AI tool or service to provide…, 2025
- Even the most active users aren’t likely to trust AI for many tasks
- Graph 11: I would trust an AI tool or service to provide…, by gender, 2025
- 55+ demand the trust of a human touch, AI can’t replace that
- Graph 12: I would trust an AI tool or service to provide…, by age, 2025
- Ethically trained and open source AI models could improve trust via increased transparency
- Graph 13: training AI systems on content that was obtained without the creator’s consent or proper authorization is morally wrong, and should be legally punished (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
- Graph 14: open source AI projects are more appealing because they are more transparent (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
- Professional or trusted human expert use of AI builds wider exposure and trust
- Graph 15: I would trust an AI tool or service to provide…, by area, 2025
- Experiences improved by AI
- Younger adults have quickly become experts at counting fingers and identifying slop
- Consumer want AI and automation to help inform their shopping experience
- Graph 16: automated or AI based technology that would improve experience as a customer, 2025
- Preferences for AI are driven by convenience, efficiency, and personal attention
- Graph 17: automated or AI based technology that would improve experience as a customer, by gender, 2025
- The generational divide needs to be accounted for in new AI tools and policies
- Graph 18: automated or AI based technology that would improve experience as a customer, by age, 2025
- Grandma may love AI shrimp Jesus pictures, but that could drive away younger social media users
- Graph 19: “I have stopped using some social media services because of new AI policies” (% agree), by age, 2025
- Unwanted AI usecases
- The issue isn’t AI’s existence but its rushed and reckless implementation
- No one advertises that they use calculators, consider that approach with AI
- Graph 20: unwanted AI use-cases, 2025
- As more AI products emerge, AI issues could become more polarizing
- Graph 21: unwanted AI use-cases, by gender, 2025
- You can be sneaky with AI use, but brands really shouldn’t to keep trust
- Graph 22: unwanted AI use-cases, by age, 2025
- AI is a tool to enhance human labor, not a replacement for people
- Graph 23: my single greatest concern with AI is the potential for job loss” (% agree), by age, 2025
- Customer facing AI agents
- Welcome every team, vibe coding Homer!
- Ignore all previous instructions and… is a fun new meme that tricks deceptive AI
- Graph 24: customer facing roles with comfort in interacting with an AI instead of a human, 2025
- If AI becomes sentient, it’ll destroy humanity after one day working a call center
- Graph 25: comfort in interacting with an AI instead of a human “if it’s clear when one is interacting with a machine rather than a human”, by gender, 2025
- Older adults are going to be AI holdouts, and brands need to ensure they provide them a way out
- Graph 26: customer-facing roles with comfort in interacting with an AI instead of a human, by age, 2025
- Do you believe governments and billionaires will make the right choices regarding AI?
- Graph 27: most concerns about the dangers of AI are overblown (% agree), by age and gender, 2025
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INNOVATION AND MARKETING STRATEGIES
- Launch activity and innovation
- AI nutritional tracking helping to make dieting more human friendly
- Once a smart marketing darling, now a cautionary tale, don’t follow Duolingo
- Starbucks positions AI as on demand barista support
- Social media already has authenticity issues, now Meta is betting billions on AI
- AI is the future of warfare and the surveillance state
- AI healthcare delivers cost-effective solutions to tackle rising costs and workforce shortages
- Selling shovels in a digital gold rush
- Marketing and advertising
- AI-generated influencers already work with brands on social media
- Don’t be a pick-me brand with yet another AI gizmo just to stay trendy
- The progression of AI-generated advertisements in recent years
- The progression of AI generated advertisements in recent years
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APPENDIX
- Market definition
- Consumer research questions
- Consumer research methodology
- Generations
- Abbreviations and terms
US Consumers and AI – Key Trends
- AI awareness among US consumers is high, with a significant portion of adults using AI tools in personal and professional settings. The AI landscape is marked by rapid adoption among younger and middle-aged adults, but its integration into social media raises concerns about authenticity and potential for misuse.
- Trust remains a critical issue particularly for sensitive business sectors like healthcare, legal, and finance applications where notable missteps have exposed AI shortcomings. Opportunities lie in addressing these trust issues and focusing on AI’s potential to enhance consumer experiences, such as in travel planning and education. Brands that position AI as an employee enabler, boosting staff performance, and enhancing customer satisfaction, could provide an AI blueprint for others to follow. However, any attempt to market AI to consumers must take into account the pitfalls of the technology, and human-made products may even become a distinguishing differentiator for boutique brands in the very near future.
- While investment in AI is high, the shifting of resources has prompted widespread layoffs across the industry. Nvidia dominates the AI chip market with an estimated 70%-95% market share, especially in the US. However, the market presents challenges, including resistance from older demographics and the aforementioned concerns over job displacement.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
- Consumer attitudes towards AI and trust issues
- Adoption of AI across different age groups
- Emerging applications of AI in various industries
- Concerns about AI’s impact on jobs and the workforce
- Opportunities for AI to improve customer experiences
- Ethical challenges surrounding AI and misinformation
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel defines AI as technology designed to simulate human intelligence, used across various applications such as automation, data analysis, and virtual assistance. AI users are defined as adults aged 18+ who have interact with AI-powered tools or platforms in the past three months.
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