Because the EU grinds the gears into motion on the AI Act, the UK and US not too long ago introduced a “landmark settlement” on AI testing that broadly glosses over the dearth of any agency governmental motion in both nation (apart from govt orders and a few Bletchley Park posturing final 12 months). However do UK shoppers care?

We’ve been monitoring US and UK shopper attitudes in direction of AI and generative AI (gen AI) in our month-to-month shopper pulse surveys (Forrester’s February and March 2024 Shopper Pulse Survey) for some time now, and the overwhelming feeling we see in UK shoppers is cautious skepticism. Once we take a look at UK shoppers attitudes in direction of gen AI:

• Most demand transparency. UK shoppers strongly imagine that transparency of the place generative AI is being deployed is paramount. “Firms ought to disclose when they’re utilizing generative AI when interacting with me” is the query that generates the strongest response in UK shoppers, with greater than three quarters agreeing.
• Some harbour moral issues. Simply over a 3rd of UK shoppers agree that “I perceive how I might be accountable and moral when utilizing generative AI”, with round 1 / 4 citing ethics and concern with the moral implications of utilizing it, and lack of belief within the output as causes they aren’t utilizing gen AI instruments..
• A number of are starting to know the possible dangers. There’s early indicators that a number of the preliminary apocalyptic doom-hype perhaps waning, and that buyers are slowly starting to know the extra obvious short-term dangers of bias, hallucination and breach of their privateness. Over the course of 2024 we see a 6% drop in UK shoppers that imagine “Generative AI poses a severe menace to society”, however a small lower in those who say they’re snug giving up private data to generative AI instruments.

If UK corporations, and authorities our bodies, wish to drive extra shoppers to make use of generative AI experiences extra successfully, they should construct belief. The expertise continues to be remarkably new contemplating the publicity affect its had. A 12 months and a half into the launch of the iPhone and good telephones had been nonetheless area of interest. However the obstacles to entry are decrease now. Anybody with an web connection is invited to the occasion.

Human+AI Should Be The Cornerstone Of The UK’s AI Future

Past belief, apathy and lack of awareness of the potential, or methods to use the instruments, is the largest barrier to gen AI adoption within the UK. Most shoppers cite “I haven’t had a cause to make use of it” as the first cause why they haven’t used genAI, with lack of know-how the following most typical cause.

In response to UK authorities figures, the UK’s AI sector “contributes £3.7 billion to the UK economic system and employs 50,000 folks throughout the nation”. With Microsoft opening a brand new AI hub in London, and committing to a £2.5 billion funding to “upskill the U.Okay. workforce for the AI period” in addition to enhance funding in Cardiff and the undisclosed “north” (by which they in all probability imply Manchester, not the precise north), a minimum of the expertise business appears to be interested by methods to educate and empower tomorrow’s staff.

Your technique to embed AI into work and experiences shouldn’t be certainly one of substitute. Sure, AI has the potential to automate mundane duties, rework work and unlock new experiences. However the corporations that can win will implement AI with empathy, transparency and a transparent give attention to unleashing their staff to unravel buyer’s issues.

We’ll be exploring the theme of Human+AI at CX Summit EMEA 2024 on 24^th to 26^th June. See you there…