TLDR
In a survey commissioned by Auros, 42% of Australians said they had felt misled by a product advertised using AI, and 59% said they don't trust AI-advertised products to arrive as described, the highest of the three countries surveyed. Australians were also the least confident at telling a real product image from an AI one.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Forty-two per cent of Australians say they have felt misled by a product advertised using artificial intelligence, according to a survey commissioned by Auros and conducted by Talker Research across 4,000 adults in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom between 26 August and 1 September 2026.[1] The Australian figure sits alongside a 59% distrust rate, the share of local respondents who said they do not trust AI-advertised products to be described accurately, the highest of the three countries surveyed.[1]
Distrust by the numbers
Only 34% of Australians said they feel confident identifying AI-generated product images, behind the UK at 47% and the US at 44%.[1] Australia combines the highest distrust rate with the lowest detection confidence of any market in the study.
The survey tested respondents against actual product images. Just 8% of Australians correctly identified a heavily AI-enhanced product as a real item, while 74% assumed it was fully AI-generated.[1] Australians who purchased a product they later found had been falsely advertised using AI spent an average of $275, rising to $357 among Gen Z buyers.
| Market | Distrust AI ads | Confident spotting AI images |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 59% | 34% |
| United Kingdom | Not reported separately | 47% |
| United States | Not reported separately | 44% |
Auros found that 45% of Australians said they go out of their way to do business with brands that do not use AI in advertising.[1] Beauty and cosmetics was named the sector most likely to use AI dishonestly in advertising, cited by 27% of respondents.
Bobby Meixner, Auros vice president of marketing, said the findings pointed to a specific problem rather than a blanket rejection of AI. "People aren't necessarily rejecting AI in shopping. They're rejecting the feeling that AI is being used on them rather than for them," Meixner said.[1]
What Australian marketers should do differently
Twenty per cent of Australians correctly identified heavily AI-enhanced real products when tested, meaning four in five misread the image in either direction.[1] For beauty and fashion brands using AI-generated product imagery to cut production costs, that misidentification rate creates legal exposure as well as reputational risk, given Australian regulators have sharpened scrutiny of misleading digital advertising.
Where AI is used in product imagery, disclosure before purchase reduces the trust gap the survey describes. Fourteen per cent of respondents said they had been misled by AI advertising multiple times, and 45% of Australian respondents already said they actively avoid brands that use AI in advertising.[1]
A note on the source: Auros rebranded from UserTesting on 29 September 2026, after acquiring User Interviews in January 2026, and sells human-insight research services.[2][3] Auros stands to benefit commercially when brands conclude that AI-generated imagery requires more consumer research. Prompt the Market could not independently verify the survey figures, which come from the company's own release; the methodology names Talker Research as the independent fieldwork provider across a sample of 4,000 adults.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How many Australians say AI ads have misled them?
Can Australians tell AI product images from real ones?
Who ran the survey?
James Dore is founder and editor of Prompt the Market and Strategy Director at Bushnote, a Sydney strategy, SEO and AI search agency. He has a background in strategy, media and financial services, and led consumer product marketing at MONEYME. He writes on AI search, answer engines, technology policy and media economics.
