Getting cited by AI is easier than earning consumers’ trust, according to a new report from WordPress VIP, the Automattic-owned company that offers an enterprise version of the WordPress publishing platform. As brands rush to get their links to appear in AI search results, consumers have become more skeptical about whether they can really trust the answers they get.
According to the report, 60% of consumers in the US say brands using “AI” in their messaging are off-putting, and 86% do not fully trust AI and still want to explore original sources. In particular, 42% of consumers said they trust AI-generated responses without clear attribution less than airline fees, confusing privacy policies, and medical bills.
Nearly three in four respondents said the Internet feels “less human” than it did 10 years ago.
Taken together, the findings paint a picture of a rapidly evolving digital landscape where brands are trying to adapt to a world beyond Google Search and traditional SEO, while balancing the need to appear human-authored or risk losing their audience. As companies invest more in making their brand visible to AI search engines, consumers value transparency and attribution more.
“People used to build websites for other people,” said Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP, in a statement shared alongside the new report. “Now you have to create websites for AI agents to act on behalf of those people. If the content on your site is not readable by AI, you are invisible to a growing proportion of people searching. You don’t exist. And if your content doesn’t feel human and trustworthy to the small percentage of people who actually click on AI answer engines, they won’t come back a second time.”
The report is based on a survey of 2,000 respondents in April, including 800 business decision makers and CMOs and 1,200 American adults.
Despite consumer caution about AI, the report also found that AI referrals to sites were increasing.
Sixty percent of business respondents said traffic from AI search engines and response platforms increased over the past year, and 74% of business decision makers said AI discoverability and attribution is a top or significant priority.
WordPress VIP says the findings point to a future where brands will have to navigate both AI visibility and human trust simultaneously. The report found that 33% of consumers said clicking to see an original source remains their top signal of trust, and 80% said information on the web should remain openly accessible, rather than controlled by a small number of large organizations.
The latest finding aligns with Automattic’s broader push for an open web ecosystem, reflected in its support of the WordPress open source project. and investments in open web protocolslike ActivityPub.
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