A new Morning Consult study found trust declined for seven of the ten largest AI brands over the last year.
Meanwhile, trust increased for Lunchables, Capri-Sun, Hot Wheels, and Mr. Pibb.
Yes, that sentence is real.
Business Insider highlighted the findings, which suggest consumers are gravitating toward familiar brands as technology and everyday life continue accelerating around them. Google's Gemini was the only major AI platform to improve its trust score. Everyone else got a reminder that adoption and trust aren't the same thing.
"Humans do what humans always do when things get uncertain. They go back to the last thing that makes them feel like everything's going to be okay."
— Paul J. Daly
More on this in the full episode of The Automotive State of the Union here.
What if the showroom needs more Ring Pops?
giphy - “I trust you this much.”
Behind the funny headline is a serious lesson.
Consumers like innovation. They just don't automatically trust it.
That's important because every business is racing to add AI, automation, chat tools, digital assistants, and new technology into the customer experience. The challenge isn't implementation. The challenge is trust.
The dealership version of a Lunchable isn't necessarily a Lunchable. It's the salesperson who remembers a customer's name. It's the service advisor who calls when they say they will. It's the waiting room that feels welcoming instead of transactional.
Technology can absolutely improve the customer experience. But technology alone rarely creates confidence.
The irony is that while everyone else is rushing to build the next futuristic experience, customers are telling us they still want familiar, dependable, and human.
And if somebody stocks Ring Pops in the showroom and sees a jump in CSI, we'd appreciate a field report.
Strictly for research purposes.
