Most US online shoppers trust a product less once they know its photo was made with AI, with 60% saying it lowers their confidence to buy, including 17% who wouldn’t buy at all, according to a June survey of 2,273 shoppers by UX research firm Baymard Institute. Just 18% said AI-generated images make no difference to them. Shoppers are more comfortable with AI earlier in the process, as 63% would rather use a chatbot than a person to compare product features and 59% to check whether something is in stock. The preference flips once an order goes wrong, when about two-thirds want a human to sort out damaged or wrong items, late or missing packages, and shipping or billing mistakes.
