A good majority, 71%, of U.S. consumers believe blended experiences of AI and human interaction will always be needed in retail and 66% don't mind AI to automate repetitive tasks but do not want it to replace human interaction.
Those are top findings from Intellias research on how U.S. shoppers view AI-powered chatbots, which polled 1,000 consumers.
While 44% said AI helped retailers and brands create more personalized shopping experiences, 20% said interactions with AI chatbots were the stage in their online buying journey where they were most likely to abandon a purchase, according to a press release on the findings.
However, almost half (46%) polled didn't mind retailers using AI in their buying journeys provided it wasn't clunky.
"There's little doubt that AI — and in particular Gen AI — has had its watershed moment, as the intersection between rapid consumer and business adoption really came to the fore last year. While there's no denying the hype curve, AI mustn't become a go-to catchall for plugging gaps in shopping experiences," Alexander Goncharuk, VP of global retail at Intellias, said in the release.