TAMPA, Fla. — As companies race to use artificial intelligence in product development, new research shows consumers may penalize AI-designed products on one of the marketplace's most important attributes: sustainability.
The study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, was conducted by researchers Barbara Duffek of Georgia State University and Dipayan Biswas of the University of South Florida. Across a series of experiments, interviews and a field study, the researchers found that consumers consistently rated AI-designed products as less sustainable than identical products described as human-designed.
“As organizations increasingly use AI in product development, it is important to understand that consumers do not evaluate sustainability based solely on technical outcomes,” said Biswas, who holds the Frank Harvey Endowed Professor of Marketing at the Muma College of Business. “Our findings suggest that perceptions of genuine care and intention remain an important part of how consumers judge whether a product is sustainable.”
The researchers identified “genuine care” as the key factor driving the difference. Consumers associated sustainability with emotional qualities such as care, love and concern for broader societal and environmental outcomes. Products designed by AI were perceived as lacking those qualities.
The effect extended beyond perceptions. In one study, participants choosing between identical products for sustainability-related reasons overwhelmingly selected the human-designed option. A field test also found lower click-through and engagement rates for advertisements promoting AI-designed products.