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Innovation

Under 45s trust bots over humans with personal data

We are becoming more and more concerned that AI will replace humans in business. Now, a new study shows that digital assistants appear to be more trustworthy.
Written by Eileen Brown, Contributor

Sadly, data breaches are taking a toll on customer loyalty, and consumers are increasingly questioning the values of the brands they do business with. Many customers are concerned about the threats automation poses to their livelihood, with the rise of AI and chatbots. But are their fears valid?

B2C text messaging solution Zingle has been looking at these fears. It has released new data from its human vs. chatbot survey that I covered earlier in 2019.

Its new report looks at the impact that bringing bots mainstream is having in relation to our trust in them.

It asked over 1,400 respondents what consumers felt about chatbots, brands, and how this AI technology would impact the world around them.

When asked whether they trust humans or chatbots more with their personal data, the majority of respondents (42%) reported that they trust humans and chatbots equally.

Over one in three (38%) reported that they trust humans more 00 and one in five (20%) trust chatbots more.

However, a quarter (25%) of Millennials and Gen Xers (ages 30 to 44) reported that they trust chatbots more than humans with their personal data.

In general, almost a third (30%) of respondents report that they are worried about AI replacing them in current or future jobs -- up from a 2017 study that found only 14% of Americans feared that their jobs would be replaced by a machine.

The worry increases amongst millennials and Gen Z, with over a third (38 %) of respondents aged between 18 and 29 reported that they are worried about AI replacing them at work.

But users are cynical about chatbots. When asked "How does your experience with a brand's chatbot impact your perception of that brand?" -- almost one in five (18%) of respondents said that "A positive chatbot experience improves my brand loyalty."

However, one-quarter (25%) said "It makes me think the brand is just following in the footsteps of other brands using chatbots."

Poor customer experience from interactions that rely solely on AI reinforce the fact that AI is more effective as a supplement to human roles, rather than a replacement.

The results seem to suggest a need for brands to evaluate how they deploy their chatbots to ensure they combine the best of machines and humans.

This enables them to meet expectations for customer service, and ease anxieties by giving bots their correct role as assistants instead of using them to replace your job.

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