Increasing AI In Advertising: Why Consumer And Advertiser Perceptions Are ‘Out Of Sync’

I recently wrote about a study pitting human- and AI-generated ads against one another to see which had the highest click-through rates. (The winner? AI ads, so long as they didn’t look like AI ads.)

Consumer behavior and perception, particularly as it contrasts with that of advertisers, is at the center of a separate IAB study with Sonata Insights, which found that their “perceptions are increasingly out of sync.”

“Advertiser perceptions of AI don’t align with consumer attitudes,” write the study’s authors. “82% of ad executives believe Gen Z/Millennial consumers feel very or somewhat positive about AI-generated ads, nearly double the 45% of consumers who actually feel that way. This gap has widened from 32 points in 2024 to 37 points in 2026.”

(Source: IAB)

On a generational level, Gen Zers were almost twice as likely to have a negative sentiment towards AI ads as Millennials were (39% to 20%), with EMARKETER going so far as saying user-generated content has helped given “the Gen Z resistance … a clear alternative: Authenticity.”

How brands that used AI for their advertising were perceived showed further gaps between advertisers and consumers. And while the gap wasn’t especially wide between those two groups in terms of labeling a brand Inauthentic (16% to 22%), the perception that a brand was Innovative (49% to 23%) or Forward-Thinking (46% to 22%) was tilted toward advertisers, while Manipulative (10% to 20%), Disconnected (8% to 17%), and Unethical (7% to 16%) were labels that consumers leaned toward.

“The gap between advertiser perception and consumer sentiment continues to widen,” the study says. “However, with clearer communication, an emphasis on high creative standards and more consistent disclosure practices, advertisers may be able to improve consumer attitudes toward AI-generated advertising and experience a positive impact on attention and purchase likelihood.”