Customers don't want AI

Consumers don't want AI, says research

Consumers don't trust artificial intelligence and struggle to understand how it can improve their interactions with businesses. Despite AI potentially delivering the types of customised, relevant experiences that people ask for, many consumers still aren't sold on the benefits.

A study conducted by the research firm Savanta on behalf of PegaSystems surveyed 5,000 consumers worldwide on their views on AI, morality, ethical behaviour, and empathy.

Some numbers you might enjoy:

• Less than one-third felt comfortable with companies using AI to interact with them
• One-third of all respondents said they were concerned about machines taking their jobs, with 27% also citing the 'rise of the robots and enslavement of humanity' as a concern
• 69% of respondents agree they would be more inclined to tell the truth to a human than to an AI system
• When it comes to making life and death decisions, an overwhelming 86% of people said they trust humans more than AI
• Only 12% of consumers agreed that AI could tell the difference between good and evil
• 56% of customers don't believe it is possible to develop machines that behave morally.

Google Cloud set to acquire data analytics company Looker for $2.6B

Google made a big splash this week by purchasing the hot analytics startup Looker for $2.6 billion. Looker has 1,600 customers and passed the $100 million revenue run rate at the end of last year – a significant milestone for any enterprise SaaS company. Also, the company is growing 70 per cent year over year, with no indication of a decline in growth in the near future.

Google's idea is to integrate Looker into Google Cloud, and the two companies are bringing together a complete data analytics solution for customers. "The combination provides an end-to-end analytics platform to connect, collect, analyse and visualise data across Google Cloud, Azure, AWS, on-premises databases and ISV applications," explained Thomas Kurian, Senior Vice President of Google Cloud at a media event.

The acquisition is a big deal for Google Cloud as it seeks to boost its market share against AWS. However, Looker has always had a multi-cloud approach, allowing users to integrate any technology into the platform – and according to Kurian, this approach will continue.

The consumer is changing, but not in the way you think it is

Many retail technology providers claim that consumers crave personalisation. However, in a new Deloitte study. Still, a personalised shopping experience is at the bottom of a relatively long list of factors that consumers consider when choosing a retailer.

A survey of over 4,000 U.S. adults explores nuanced demographic variables and shifts among consumers of various generational, ethnic and income categories. The shopping population is more diverse than ever. Still, the study fails to adequately capture some simple, widely repeated generalisations, such as that e-commerce and mobile commerce are killing traditional retail.

Price, product availability, and convenience are at the top of the list. Deloitte says, "often-noted attributes of the modern consumer like core values and personalised experiences ranked lowest among their priorities." However, the company says these considerations have grown in importance over time, but they're not critical or fundamental to purchase decision-making.

Tool of the week: Drift

Drift is a tool for "conversational marketing", trying to make email smarter and take chatbots to the next level. The idea is to make it easy for you to connect with people on your site so you can answer their questions in real time, convert more leads, and close more deals.

Reading the paragraph above might not give you goosebumps. It sounds a bit like any other service. However, the results I've seen have been far from ordinary – one company I know got 37 meetings scheduled in less than a week, without changing anything other than implementing Drift's platform.