Survey: Companies adopting AI worry that they may lose trust

Vodafone Business, a telecommunications company active in Europe and Africa, partnered with the London School of Economics and conducted a study investigating how businesses in the Asia Pacific (APAC) were prepared for the future. To do so, they interviewed over 760 business and 1760 customer respondents across Singapore, China, India and Australia, and concluded that businesses were readily adopting AI, but should also invest in their cybersecurity measures.

About business considerations

Generative AI (GenAI) is the overarching term for a range of technology that can learn from a database and create new outputs based on what they have learned, such as texts or images. Since ChatGPT took the world by storm in 2022, more and more businesses have been faced with dilemmas about how to approach AI. 

1 in 2 businesses in APAC have decided to adopt GenAI, and are dedicating more of their resources toward integrating technology as a whole. Last year, 60% of businesses said they were increasing the budget allocated to digital transformation, and that number has increased this year to 70%. 

However, while businesses are incorporating these new technologies, companies are also wary that their use of GenAI may impact customer trust negatively. 57% of companies were specifically worried about privacy concerns over customer personal data.

After all, GenAI gets its name from the AI’s ability to constantly learn. GenAI are not set models and can continually be improved based on the data that it is fed. While this is beneficial for productivity, it also means that if a company feeds the private customer data into poorly managed GenAI, anybody using the same GenAI in another country may be able to access that information. 

Even if companies have their own internal GenAI, confidentiality remains an issue as everyone within that company will be able to access that information, regardless of their clearance level.

About customer concerns

As of now, it seems that most customers are not as concerned about GenAI causing data breaches as companies think. Only 38% of customers express a decreased trust in businesses that implement GenAI. Of the remaining consumers, 39% don’t think that AI impacts the trust they feel toward a business, while 23% say they will trust a business more.

Instead, customers are sceptical about about the data privacy and security of a business as a whole, not just about AI. Therefore, GenAI doesn’t hugely reduce their trust in businesses, customers are more concerned about cybersecurity as a whole. 41% of customers say they will trust a company with a robust data protection system more.

Therefore, If companies are worried about losing customer confidence after incorporating new technologies, these businesses should invest more in cybersecurity.

Future ready

As a whole, businesses in APAC may want to be more discerning about the way that they adopt new technology. More than half of those in Singapore and Australia — 55% 66% respectively — believe that companies do not use technology in a way that inspires trust and confidence, showing considerable doubt towards corporations. 

On the other hand, those in China and India are far more trusting, with 71% and 74% respectively believing that businesses are using technology well. 

Furthermore, 85% of companies believe that their use of technology adds more value to their services, while only 67% of customers believe the same.

The optimism that companies have about technology is understandable, considering how AI offers considerable possibilities with regards to productivity and potentially innovation. It may then be useful for multinational corporations operating across APAC to pilot some of their more experimental uses of technology in countries that are more receptive to it, like China and India, and then adapting these new uses to the more restrained markets of Australia and Singapore.

“As businesses in the APAC region rapidly embrace AI and other emerging technologies, the key to long-term success lies in building and maintaining customer trust. To bridge this gap, businesses must use technology in a human way and prioritise transparency, fairness, and robust data protection measures,” says Bhupinder Singh, President of Vodafone Business, Asia-Pacific and Middle East.

 “It's also essential for businesses to invest in robust digital infrastructure, advanced networks, and comprehensive security solutions. These foundational elements will support the seamless adoption of emerging technologies, ensuring that businesses are well-prepared and ‘Fit for the Future.”