B2C AI Adoption: Is advertising AI features a Plus or a Minus for Growth?
I'm seeing a growing trend of B2C products actively advertising their AI features as a USP, claiming AI being the prime solution.
However, being back in my hometown for a weekend, I've heard a lot of apprehension around data privacy and a general lack of understanding "what happens in that blackbox". Nothing I hear very often back in Berlin, so demographic differences are clearly playing a big role in user receptiveness.
Transparency is crucial, no doubt. Advertising AI on platforms like producthunt or in decks for investors makes a lot of sense - that's the right audience.
But are we far enough along the AI adoption curve for "AI-powered" to be a major selling point on the customer-facing side? Or are we scaring off potential users with concerns about data usage and complexity?
Let's discuss!
Have you seen AI transparency hurt or help your user acquisition efforts?
How are you addressing user concerns about AI?
Very happy to discuss your experiences, thoughts, and stories from fellow entrepreneurs! 👇
Replies
I definitely think it’s worth it. For users, the keyword AI signals expertise, which builds trust. If they have to choose between a regular product and an AI-powered one, they’ll likely assume the AI product is better.
My-legacy.ai
Great question, Didier! We’ve found that AI works best when it enhances, not overwhelms. Transparency builds trust—showing HOW AI helps, not just that it’s there, makes all the difference. Curious how others are tackling this!
@mylegacy exactly! The part of showing how AI helps has a big educational component to which many products here on @producthunt are contributing to. Increased adoption rates of the general technology can significantly boost product conversion by expanding your target user base How are you communicating and promoting this for your product?
@mylegacy I agree. Focusing on the feature(s) or parts of the user experience that AI is improving is the best opportunity to bringing users onboard. Also mainstream customers, in the US at least, generally find jargon to be off-putting -- so using concise plain English phasing is key IMO.
@mylegacy Great point! I think focusing on how AI improves the user experience is key—especially when it’s visible and adds real value. I’ve also noticed that simplifying the messaging and avoiding overly technical terms can really make AI feel more approachable to mainstream users.
I think we are at a point that "AI-powered" can be a major selling point if it holds true to its value statement and is the primary capability of the product. If AI is not the sole component, then I don't believe it should be sold as "AI-powered".
I see the same sentiment surrounding AI in my home and the people around me. It can be difficult to encourage non-tech individuals to read an arXiv essay but maybe a firm like @Hugging Face should have a page or property for each LLM describing how data is ingested with that specific LLM. This could even be AI generated to cater to any type of mind.
If there are features that are AI powered, people appreciate that being disclosed. I see a lot of headlines that AI is a turn off for customers. AI isn't for everyone, if it sells, it works!
@kenny_hawkins Thanks for your comment! I very much agree that there should be content availabe to any type of mind once the interest occurs. Although indeed big consumer-facing LLMs like @ChatGPT by OpenAI @Claude by Anthropic or @DeepSeek should take their fair share in educating some fundamentals, also the individual services, whether it is an AI wrapper or using their own models would likely benefit from having a short explanation on their product page in layman's terms, likely specific to their service.
It very much depends on the audience of the service, but in many cases I think we are still in a situation where big headlines advertising AI scares more people off than it attracts. Hence I'd likely add some sort of "Applied AI" page to my landing page, not hiding the use of AI but putting information at disposal for those interested.
@didiervanh I think 'Applied AI' is a good idea. I'm sure when governments start regulating AI as it does other things, software will likely have to include a disclaimer in the footer explaining how and when AI is used. Maybe an 'Ethical Implementation' badge like B corps, SOC, etc?
Great point! I’ve noticed the same—AI can be a double-edged sword for B2C products. While it sounds cutting-edge, the lack of transparency can definitely raise eyebrows, especially among less tech-savvy users. It’s all about striking a balance between showcasing AI’s benefits and addressing concerns around privacy and complexity. How have you seen businesses navigate this in more conservative markets? Would love to hear your thoughts! 👀
@onbing not yet, but I will now keep an eye out for it.
minimalist phone: creating folders
I think that it can still work, but it is not the year 2023 or 2024 so I think that people are more resistant to this argument. Especially those who work in tech and have been exposed to it permanently.
Has anyone considered the potential for AI to personalize the risk disclosure itself?
Like, we talk about transparency but what if the standard privacy policy is overwhelming and useless to the average user because its not tailored to them?
Imagine an AI that analyzes a user's past behavior and interaction with a product and then dynamically generates a short, personalized summary of the potential data privacy risks that are the most relevant to the user. I am thinking of something like "Based on your usage, here's how this AI might use your data, and what steps you can take to control it".
Instead of a generic 'terms of service', I would like to have an AI-powered 'Risk summary' that prioritizes clarity and relevance for each individual user. We can also have a prompt system where the user can ask questions about the terms and conditions, if it makes sense.
I think this could be a way to move beyond 'being transparent' to actually 'being understandable'. What do you all think?
1). What i think about it is that transparency can help in building sustainable businesses by eliminating rejections through regulatory actions and transparency can also hurt when the reality is different from being what conclusions posted in AI not always true as it requires human intervention to make it happen.
2). Human intervention is necessary with dedicated regularized user controls for transparency on AI to protect everyone and their data from any vulnerabilities.
We previously built a privacy-first copilot to address those data privacy concerns, especially for those in regulated industries- the big bosses (CIOs, CDOs) said they cared, but the end users honestly didn't care. (We even talked to corporate lawyers who uploaded 100 pager contracts into ChatGPT for summaries- yikes.)
When it came to purchasing, many companies were (shockingly) happy to continue letting their employees pay for ChatGPT Pro on their own dime or continue using the free version on their private devices (they banned ChatGPT on work devices)- preferring to close both eyes to potential data leakage, breaches etc.
The CIOs and CDOs don't have any/much budget, so they have to defer to CTOs and CEOs who don't really see the importance as much. (The CTO gets annoyed that they're being asked to consider another tool, more expenses that they have to justify, etc.)
People tend to say they care about data privacy, but then install what's most convenient for them (eg. Grammarly, ChatGPT, etc) without thinking too much about it.
I find myself glossing over AI powered everything. It’s fine. It’s likely the right thing to do. But leaning too hard on it as a USP ain’t it. It’s a rising tide lifts all boats thing for the majority.
@derrickbradley I can relate to this - if the unique value of the tool itself isn't clear beyond just being 'AI-powered,' it probably isn't a strong enough offering. A product needs to stand out for its own merits, and AI should be a tool that enhances its uniqueness—not the sole selling point. Without strong USPs, the tool might struggle to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
Advertising AI features can definitely be a plus for growth! It highlights innovation, enhances user experience, and builds trust in a brand’s ability to stay ahead of the curve. AI-driven solutions can improve personalization, efficiency, and customer engagement, giving businesses a competitive edge in the B2C space! https://xautomationllc.com/
It's easier to engage users if you emphasize how AI makes their experience easier, rather than how they use AI themselves. Most non-developers and people who don't follow tech trends still seem to have a hard time with AI.
TimeAlign
This is exactly the question we asked and decided that we would launch AI assistant, LifeAlign AI, as a feature to our core app, rather than acting like it was a meaningful differentiator.
Our product TimeAlign is unique because it is the first and only app to close the feedback loop on time management by addressing both scheduled and tracked time--intention and action--future and past. It uses this intention-action data to optimize your schedule.
We are launching LifeAlign AI separately as a free tool that essentially onboards users into TimeAlign. LifeAlign turns goals into actionable plans scheduled on your calendar, then TimeAlign is the system that actually holds you to the plan and measures progress.