95% of consumers don't trust AI for purchase decisions

Here's the statistic that should make every CMO pause: While 19% of consumers now use generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to find businesses, a staggering 95% say AI is the least trusted source when it comes to making actual purchase decisions. SOCi's 2025 Consumer Behavior Index just delivered the data that confirms what many of us suspected—AI suggests, but humans decide.

This isn't about AI failing to deliver; it's about AI finding its proper place in the discovery ecosystem. And that place, according to SOCi's research, is as the opening act, not the headliner. The real conversion magic happens when human validation enters the picture through social media, reviews, and peer-generated content.

"AI may answer the question, but social media earns the trust," said Monica Ho, CMO at SOCi. "That's why TikTok, Instagram, and reviews aren't just content channels. They're your most critical conversion levers."

The Verification Generation

What we're witnessing isn't AI rejection—it's AI verification. Consumers, particularly Gen Z, are using AI as their starting point for discovery, then immediately turning to human-centered platforms to validate what they've found. Among Gen Z, 34% use TikTok and 35% use Instagram to discover new brands, but the pattern is consistent across age groups: AI provides the suggestion, social media provides the trust.

Gen Z consumers now regularly use an average of 3.6 different apps to find and choose a single local business, according to SOCi's research. This isn't inefficiency—it's systematic verification. They're cross-referencing AI recommendations against real human experiences, visual proof, and peer validation before making decisions.

The implications are profound. We're not dealing with a simple channel shift from Google to TikTok. We're witnessing the emergence of a verification-first discovery journey where multiple touchpoints must work in concert to build trust. The era of "Just Google it" was ending, but what's replacing it is far more complex and human-centered than many predicted.

The Trust Infrastructure

The numbers tell a clear story about where trust actually lives. An overwhelming 91% of consumers rely on peer-generated content to evaluate local businesses, with video content becoming increasingly important. Among younger audiences, 40% prefer video reviews, and 65% say they're more likely to choose a business that actively responds to reviews.

But here's the sophisticated part: this human validation isn't just influencing consumers—it's also training the AI systems that started the journey. Tools like ChatGPT incorporate customer reviews as a foundational input in generating local recommendations, creating a feedback loop where human experiences directly shape AI outputs.

This dual role of reviews and social content—building consumer trust while informing AI recommendations—represents a fundamental shift in how we should think about these platforms. They're not just marketing channels; they're the infrastructure that makes AI-powered commerce actually work.

The authenticity component is crucial here. 55% are increasingly skeptical of fake feedback, highlighting that transparency and responsiveness are now business-critical. Consumers have developed sophisticated detection mechanisms for inauthentic content, making genuine human engagement more valuable than ever.

The Fragmentation Reality

SOCi's data reveals something marketers have been slow to acknowledge: Traditional search platforms like Google have seen a notable decline, dropping 10% in traffic year-over-year, while social discovery surged to 73%. But this isn't just about platform preferences—it's about fundamental changes in how people evaluate information credibility.

The research shows consumers now move fluidly between AI tools, social media, and review platforms to validate claims, check brand reputation, and watch videos from real customers before making decisions. What looks like scattered attention is actually systematic verification across multiple human touchpoints.

For brands, this creates both opportunity and obligation. The opportunity lies in the fact that consumers are actively seeking human validation—they want to see real experiences, authentic responses, and genuine engagement. The obligation is to show up authentically across these verification platforms, not just the discovery platforms.

The Strategic Imperative

The message from SOCi's research is clear: brands that treat AI discovery and human validation as separate strategies are creating costly blind spots. With Google increasingly surfacing social content in search results, SOCi's 2024 Local Visibility Index found that brands that lack a social-first presence are leaving millions in potential revenue untapped.

This isn't about choosing between AI and human touchpoints—it's about orchestrating them. AI can handle initial discovery and basic information delivery efficiently and at scale. But conversion happens when humans validate that AI recommendation through social proof, visual content, and peer experiences.

The brands winning in this environment understand that AI efficiency and human authenticity aren't competing forces—they're complementary ones. AI gets people to your door; human validation gets them to walk through it.

Monica Ho puts it perfectly: "As the lines between search, social, and reputation blur, brands must double down on transparency, authenticity, and trust across every channel. Those who showcase real customer experiences, lean into visual content, and engage meaningfully on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and trusted review sites will earn lasting loyalty."

The Path Forward

The implications for growth marketers are straightforward but not simple. You need AI-powered discovery strategies that work seamlessly with human-centered validation strategies. This means:

Content that validates: Your social content shouldn't just promote—it should provide the human proof points that validate AI recommendations. Real customers, real experiences, real responses.

Responsive engagement: 65% reported that they're more likely to choose businesses responsive to reviews, making real-time, personalized interactions critical for conversion.

Cross-platform consistency: Since consumers are using multiple platforms to verify single decisions, your brand story and customer experience need to be consistent across all touchpoints.

Authentic visual content: With 40% of younger consumers preferring video reviews, authentic visual content becomes a competitive advantage, not just a nice-to-have.

The future isn't about AI replacing human connection—it's about AI enabling more meaningful human connections at scale. The brands that understand this distinction will thrive in the verification economy. Those that don't will find themselves with AI-powered discovery that leads nowhere, because they haven't built the human trust infrastructure that actually converts.

AI suggests, humans decide. The question is: are you building for both?

Ready to build an integrated discovery and validation strategy that converts AI interest into human trust? Contact Winsome Marketing's growth experts to develop approaches that leverage AI efficiency while maximizing human validation touchpoints across all customer journey stages.