Consumers Say GenAI Has Made Content Quality Worse

Forty-nine percent of U.S. consumers agree that generative artificial intelligence has made the quality of content available worse, according to a survey by Gartner. Among younger consumers, including Gen Z and millennials, 57 percent agree that genAI has made content quality worse.

The survey also found that AI is contributing to a more skeptical media environment, raising the stakes for companies to create recognizable, credible, and high-quality content.

"AI-generated content is increasing the volume of media that consumers encounter, but not necessarily the value," said Kate Muhl, a vice president analyst in the Gartner Marketing practice. "In a more skeptical media environment, brands need to be more recognizable, more credible, and more intentional about the contexts in which they appear."

The survey also found that 59 percent of U.S. consumers prefer to do several media or technology activities at the same time, such as watching TV, using the internet, or texting on a phone rather than focusing on one activity at a time.

"Consumer screen time may be abundant, but consumer attention is not," Muhl said. "For marketers, the goal is no longer simply to buy reach or chase impressions. Media strategy must compete for scarce attention and create brand meaning quickly enough to survive fragmented, fast-moving environments."

A separate Gartner survey found that AI is beginning to change how consumers build searches for products and services. Twenty percent of U.S. consumers say their search inputs are more specific because of AI, 19 percent phrase search inputs as questions more frequently, 17 percent rely on AI summaries to get information for products or services they are looking for, and 16 percent use AI chatbots to search for new products or services to buy.

"AI is changing the way consumers connect with content and where consumer attention lives," Muhl said. "CMOs should not treat AI as a replacement for media fundamentals. The brands that win will be those that understand where attention is gathering, how trust is being formed, and what kinds of experiences consumers want to remember."