Consumer Concerns: How Marketers Can Address AI Chatbot Trust Issues

The rise of AI in marketing shows no sign of slowing in 2026, with so many marketers seeing benefits on both a day-to-day and a bottom-line basis.

But as adoption increases across the industry, consumers are speaking out about their concerns, as Qualtrics found in its 2026 Consumer Experience Trends Report.

More than 20,000 consumers were surveyed, and the task given the worst rating by consumers was customer support, as nearly 1 in 5 said AI provided no benefit.

“In a rush to capitalize on AI, AI-powered chatbots have arrived to create more efficient customer service,” the report says. “The problem is they are failing at their intended purpose. When consumers rated AI applications for convenience, time savings, and usefulness, customer support ranked at the bottom.”

Trust appears to be at the center of those concerns, with 53% worried about their personal data being misused (up 7.7% YoY) and 50% worried about not being able to connect with a human being.

  (Source: Qualtrics)

With more saying they prefer tailored experiences (64%, up 2.5% YoY), it’s important to pay attention to where consumers want that personalization. According to Qualtrics, the “small tweaks” most likely to increase a consumers’ willingness to share were transparency about collected data, better control over how data is used, and ability to delete information.

“Consumers want AI to enhance the human experience, not replace it,” the report says. “Getting that approach right is key to realizing the promise of AI, and the experience has to deliver a good impression to ensure continued adoption.”

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