Consumers say ‘AI’ in brand messaging is a turnoff, WordPress VIP survey finds

Sixty percent of U.S. consumers say brands that use the term “AI” in their messaging turn them off, and 86% do not fully trust AI-generated answers, according to a new survey from WordPress VIP, the enterprise publishing platform owned by Automattic. The findings, based on a survey of 2,000 respondents conducted in April 2025, underscore a growing tension between corporate adoption of artificial intelligence and consumer skepticism.

The survey, which included 800 enterprise decision-makers and chief marketing officers alongside 1,200 U.S. adults, also found that 42% of consumers trust AI-generated answers without clear attribution less than they trust airline fees, confusing privacy policies, or medical bills. Nearly three in four respondents said the internet feels “less human” than it did a decade ago.

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AI referrals are rising even as trust falls

Despite consumer wariness, the report found that traffic from AI search engines and answer platforms increased over the past year for 60% of enterprise respondents. Seventy-four percent of enterprise decision-makers said AI discoverability and attribution are a main or significant priority. The data suggests brands are caught between two competing pressures: optimizing for AI-driven discovery and maintaining the human tone that consumers say they value.

“People used to build websites for other people,” said Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP, in a statement. “Now you have to build websites for AI agents acting on behalf of those people. If your site’s content isn’t legible to AI, you are invisible to a growing share of how people search. You don’t exist. And if your content doesn’t feel human and trustworthy for the tiny percentage of people who actually click past the AI answer engines, they won’t come back a second time.”

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Transparency and attribution matter most

The survey highlighted that consumers place a premium on transparency. Thirty-three percent of respondents said clicking through to see an original source is still their top trust signal. Eighty percent said information on the web should remain openly accessible rather than controlled by a small number of large organizations. The findings align with Automattic’s broader advocacy for an open web ecosystem, including its support for the open-source WordPress project and protocols like ActivityPub.

For brands, the report points to a dual imperative: making content legible to AI systems while preserving the human credibility that drives real engagement. As AI-generated summaries become more common in search results, the ability to earn both algorithmic visibility and consumer trust may define the next phase of digital publishing.

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CoinPulseHQ Editorial

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