Reasons Consumers Overlook AI Labels

How to lose your user's attention in 5 words: "Our new feature uses AI!" A thing I've observed while watching Duolingo build AI-powered features: consumers rarely get excited when we lead with "AI" as the selling point. Most people don't care about AI. They care about what it does for them (the benefit!). And this isn't just a Duolingo insight, it's a pattern across consumer products. When we lead with technical jargon about how advanced our AI models are, and build our products that way, users' eyes glaze over! 📣 Benefits > Technology: Imagine saying that our speaking exercises used "advanced natural language processing" ... crickets. What happens when we reposition as "instant pronunciation feedback that helps you sound like a native speaker." Now people want to try it. 💊 People want solutions, not science: Your customers don't wake up thinking "I wish I had more AI in my life." They wake up thinking "I wish this problem would go away." 🪄The paradox of invisible innovation: The best AI feels invisible. Users should experience the magic without needing to understand the machine behind it. How to make people actually care: • Translate tech to outcomes: Instead of "GPT-powered content creation," try "Write better emails in half the time" • Focus on emotional impact: "Never struggle with language barriers again" hits different than "Neural machine translation with 95% accuracy" • Show, don't tell: Demonstrations beat explanations every time • Solve real problems: Start with user pain points, not technology capabilities The most successful consumer AI products don't win because they have the best algorithms, they win because they make people's lives measurably better in ways that are immediately obvious. What are you building with AI, and how are you communicating its value beyond the technology you're using? #ProductDevelopment #AIStrategy #ConsumerTech #ProductManagement #UserExperience

Oh. This is gooooood. Turns out slapping “AI-powered” on your product doesn’t make people buy... it makes them back away. We’ve been force-fed AI hype for over a year—especially in our software. Prices went up across the board because of “AI features” that were, in reality, just glorified ChatGPT wrappers. No opt-out. No choice. Just marginally useful add-ons we didn’t ask for. Now, a new study confirms what many of us already knew: consumers don’t trust AI marketing. From the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management: “Participants who saw ads with AI-related marketing were less likely to try or buy the products.” Even the researchers were surprised: “We thought AI would improve consumers' willingness to buy... but apparently it has a negative effect.” Well yeah—because consumers aren’t confused. They’re cautious. They’re tired of being guinea pigs for Silicon Valley’s next rollout. This is where trust beats tech every time. Because what we’re seeing isn’t innovation—it’s marketing without substance. So what happens next? AI startups will do what hype-driven startups always do: rename, reframe, and hide the AI under vague “cutting-edge tech” labels. But the damage is done. People are paying attention now. Consumers want value. Not vague promises. Not buzzwords. Not price hikes disguised as innovation. And if your product can’t stand on its own without the “AI” sticker slapped on top? It probably shouldn’t be out there yet. - Consumers don’t fear tech. They fear being lied to. - They don’t avoid innovation. They avoid unreliability. - GenAI doesn’t draw money from consumers... trust does. Sources: WSJ: https://lnkd.in/gW5pr2jR Study: https://lnkd.in/gfdjy8df Futurism: https://lnkd.in/gYyRtusr Read the original post: https://lnkd.in/gwN9r8y7 #ai #fakeai #aihype #aibubble

New data: Customers don't care about your "AI-powered" feature. This comes from a survey of 767 software users by Kristen Berman and the team at Irrational Labs. You'll want to dive into the full results in today's Growth Unhinged: https://lnkd.in/e7eCUv5b What the study found: 1. Rather than enhancing perceptions, the term “generative AI” significantly lowered expectations of a product’s potential impact. This might reflect skepticism from tools that overpromise and under-deliver, such as unreliable chatbots or lackluster generative content. 2. Labeling a product as AI-driven did little to justify a higher price. Customers were unwilling to pay more unless the tool demonstrated clear, compelling benefits. (Superhuman was the only exception.) 3. The impact on trust was largely neutral. For most brands, explicitly mentioning AI didn’t increase customer confidence in the tool’s reliability. What to do instead: - Lead with benefits, not AI-jargon. Canva says its "Magic Design" feature helps users effortlessly make beautiful designs -- not that it's a tool for "AI-powered productivity". - Make claims tangible. GitHub Copilot highlights that "developers are coding up to 55% faster." - Take a page from behavioral science with the Endowment Effect (think: reverse trial of AI features). - When you must use “AI,” be thoughtful. Pair it with a clear use case or branding that connects to user needs. Can't wait to hear what y'all think about this data. #ai #messaging #startup

"The mere presence of the term “AI” in product descriptions can trigger fear and reduce the likelihood of conversion." Pavel Samsonov's recent article (linked in comments) reveals something fascinating: ↳ Simply mentioning "AI" in product descriptions can trigger fear and reduce purchase likelihood. The problem runs deeper than just AI anxiety... Because "Powered by AI" isn't a value proposition –– it's a technology description. Your customers don't care how you build your solution. They care what problem it solves for them. Strong value propositions focus on outcomes: ↳ "Save time when you skip waiting in line." ↳ "Never miss a bill payment again with automatic payments." Weak ones focus on features: ↳ "More powerful than ever before." ↳ "Exciting new AI capabilities." The best converting products lead with clear user benefits. The technology stays in the background. When you lead with "AI-powered," you're making users figure out the value themselves. Most won't bother. Instead of highlighting the AI, highlight what the AI helps users accomplish. Focus on user value, not your tech stack.

Data confirms: Brands should avoid the AI label. It's turning off customers. Up until a few months ago, you could actually drive more traction by bolting on the AI label to your products. Fast forward to now, the situation has shifted. Here's what I think is happening. Reason 1: Misused AI. Brands are using AI more as a marketing gimmick than anything of material value. Reason 2: Higher standards. People expect AI to be free from human errors. But when it slips, trust is quickly eroded. Reason 3: Complexity Using AI to enhance products is insanely harder than using it to enhance internal operations. The latter yields more ROI with lesser effort. So, what should brands do? They should slow down a little. If AI in your product makes it incrementally better in your eyes, it's probably a gimmick in the consumers' eyes. If it makes it 2x better in your eyes, it's probably worth it. Remember, choosing the right direction is much more important than speed.

At least 30 percent of generative AI projects will be abandoned after proof of concept by the end of 2025, due to poor data quality, inadequate risk controls, escalating costs or unclear business value, according to Gartner. I actually think more than 30 percent of these projects will be abandoned -- probably around two thirds, as all the pre-seed to seed-stage startups realize the market is too competitive, the lookalikes are too similar, and the incumbents (Open AI, Anthropic, etc) offer a “good enough” alternative for that use case. Another interesting related study polled 1,000+ U.S. adults and found that AI-labeled products consistently underperformed. The tests spanned diverse categories—smart TVs, high-end electronics, medical devices, and fintech. Participants saw identical product descriptions, differing only in the presence or absence of “artificial intelligence.” According to the lead author, mentions of “AI” decreased emotional trust, hurting purchase intent. This doesn’t surprise me at all…at this point, I often skip opportunities to chat with an AI CS bot, or have an AI design feature help me with a new layout. I’m confident this will change eventually, but there will be a massive graveyard of projects. 🔗https://lnkd.in/ejcXyB5x 🔗https://lnkd.in/eFbM5vJD

Are companies unknowingly sabotaging their own success by overemphasizing AI in their product descriptions? This newly published study from a team at Washington State University highlights that including "AI" in product descriptions may actually decrease sales due to reduced emotional trust. This makes it crucial for companies to think carefully about how they present AI-driven features in their marketing strategies.