Remesh study finds marketers overestimate consumer comfort with AI content

By AI, Created 8:46 PM UTC, May 26, 2026, /AGP/ – Remesh released a new consumer insights report on May 26, 2026, showing a wide gap between marketer assumptions and consumer expectations around AI-generated content. The study found that 52.8% of consumers say AI-written content hurts trust or turns them off, even as 86.3% of marketers use AI regularly.

Why it matters: - The study points to a trust problem for brands using AI to scale content. - Consumer skepticism could weaken engagement, brand credibility, and purchase intent if marketers keep leaning on AI-heavy messaging. - The findings suggest many brands may be optimizing for efficiency without accounting for how audiences perceive the output.

What happened: - Remesh released its Consumer Insights Report: Understanding the Gap Between Consumer Wants and Marketer Assumptions on May 26, 2026. - The report compares parallel conversations with marketers and consumers. - Remesh found that 86.3% of marketers use AI regularly to produce content. - Remesh found that 52.8% of consumers say AI-written content reduces trust in a brand or puts them off entirely.

The details: - 31.5% of consumers said AI content directly reduces their trust in a brand. - 84.2% of consumers said they can detect AI-generated content at least sometimes. - Consumers said AI content often feels formulaic, overly polished, or unnaturally worded. - Consumers described AI-generated content as lazy, unoriginal, and lower effort. - Consumers ranked online reviews nearly as highly as word of mouth, with weighted scores of 4.13 and 4.32. - Marketers ranked reviews much lower, at 3.08. - Marketers estimated that 30% of customers go first to social platforms when making purchase decisions. - In the consumer sample, only 11.8% said social platforms come first, a 2.5x gap. - 91.6% of marketers said they are confident they understand their customers. - Only 63.8% of consumers said brands actually understand them. - 55% of consumers said they prefer straightforward, factual communication from brands. - Only 36% of marketers said straightforward, factual communication is their primary style.

Between the lines: - The report suggests marketers may be overvaluing AI efficiency and undervaluing authenticity. - The data also shows a perception gap: marketers believe they know customers better than consumers feel known. - Remesh VP Marketing Emma Borochoff said efficiency helped AI scale, but connection was not stress-tested at the same pace.

What’s next: - Brands will likely face more pressure to balance AI use with human-sounding, trust-building communication. - Remesh says the study uses its platform to combine real-time open-ended responses, quant-style questions, and AI-assisted thematic analysis. - The company says its embedded AI agent, Remy, helps researchers design studies, surface themes, and connect cross-study data. - More information is available in Remesh’s announcement.