What to Know About AI's Impact on Consumer Buying Decisions

Consumers from 17 international markets who participated in a new YouGov survey revealed valuable information about their buying habits—useful information for journalists whose reporting can highlight how AI is changing the way consumers make purchasing decisions, such as the growing use of personalized recommendations, virtual assistants, or automated customer service.

Asked how a company's use of AI in their products or services would affect their decision to purchase products from them, 21 survey participants said they are more likely to buy. While another 21% said they would be less likely to buy, 41% said it wouldn't make a difference at all.

However, the findings differ significantly from region to region.

The survey found that opinions vary in the Asia-Pacific and the United Arab Emirates. For instance, in India 52% of consumers said they would be more likely to buy from a company that uses AI, the highest percentage among all markets surveyed. The UAE and Hong Kong are just behind with 48% and 44% respectively more likely to buy. Comparatively, 35% in Indonesia and just 25% in Australia said the same.

According to the survey results, Western countries are less likely to embrace AI. Great Britain and Sweden—both of which stand at 32%—are less likely to buy from companies using AI. Germany and Canada (25%) and France and Denmark (24%) also support this trend. 18% and 19% are less likely to purchase products from companies that use AI in Italy and Poland respectively. Interestingly, the United States shows the lowest interest, with 36% of survey participants reporting that they’re less likely to buy.

YouGov’s survey offers the latest evidence of the impact of AI on consumer behavior.

Last year, Jean-Baptiste Hironde, the CEO and Co-Founder of the mobile app development and publishing studio MWM, said in a piece for Forbes that AI’s “predictive power has revolutionized product recommendations and customer service interactions, providing a level of personalization that boosts customer satisfaction, influences purchasing decisions and enhances customer engagement.” However, he noted, “the reactions of surprise and excitement that many consumers initially express when encountering AI technologies like chat GPT often disappear over time.”

Research into how AI’s impact on consumers and whether they trust AI recommendations, feel comfortable with AI-driven advertising, or have concerns about privacy, has offered valuable insights.

Recent research, for example, shows that consumers often prefer interacting with chatbots rather than human customer service agents when purchasing potentially embarrassing items. The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, found that when faced with self-presentation concerns—worries about how their actions may be perceived by others— consumers gravitate towards chatbots over human agents, particularly when shopping for items like antidiarrheal medicine or skincare products.