What Customers Really Think About Your AI Experience: Academic Research Reveals the Truth.
Have you ever said “thank you” to a chatbot or Chat GPT? Well, you’re not alone—and you might just be weirder than you think. It turns out AI can be more empathic than people. But what do Customers think of AI experiences? Academic research reveals the answers we discuss in this show.
In this special live-recorded episode from the SOCAP Conference, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton explore the psychology behind how customers actually feel about AI—and what that means for your customer experience.
Ryan dives into the latest academic research on AI trust, customer behaviour, and why people treat AI like it’s part of the cast of Friends. Meanwhile, Colin keeps things grounded with real-life examples with his usual “so what?” test.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why 50% of customers trust companies less when they know AI is involved
- How AI literacy backfires (the more people understand it, the less they use it!)
- The subtle “outgroup” bias customers apply to AI systems
- Why hedonic recommendations (like chocolate) must come from humans
- How one bad AI interaction can poison the well for all future ones
- What the hell “personification” means—and why it matters for your brand
- The surprising emotional tension behind AI adoption (it’s empowering and scary)
Best Quote from the Episode:
“AI isn’t human, but customers treat it like it is—and that means it’s being judged by human standards. If it screws up once, they’ll remember. And they’ll blame all AI for it.” – Professor Ryan Hamilton
Resources Mentioned
This podcast is sponsored by SOCAP International and IA Solutions, who are both as passionate about improving customer experience as we are.
SOCAP: https://socap.org/
IA Solutions: https://iacallcenter.com/
Research References:
- Castelo, Noah, Maarten W. Bos, and Donald R. Lehmann (2019), “Task-Dependent Algorithm Aversion,” Journal of Marketing Research, 56 (5), 809-825.
- Dietvorst, Berkeley J., Joseph P. Simmons, and Cade Massey (2015), “Algorithm aversion: people erroneously avoid algorithms after seeing them err,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144, 1, 114.
- Hermann, Erik, and Stefano Puntoni, (2024), “Artificial intelligence and consumer behavior: From predictive to generative AI,” Journal of Business Research, 180, 114720.
- Ipsos (2022), “Global opinions about AI – January 2022, https://t.ly/qyyEI
- Longoni, Chiara, and Luca Cian (2022), “Artificial Intelligence in Utilitarian vs. Hedonic Contexts: The “Word-of-Machine” Effect,” Journal of Marketing, 86 (1), 91-108.
- Puntoni, Stefano, Rebecca W. Reczek, Markus Giesler, and Simona Botti (2021), “Consumers and Artificial Intelligence: An Experiential Perspective,” Journal of Marketing, 85 (1), 131-151.
- Santoro, Erik, and Benoît Monin (2023), “The AI Effect: People rate distinctively human attributes as more essential to being human after learning about artificial intelligence advances,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 107, 104464.
About the Hosts:
Colin Shaw is a LinkedIn 'Top Voice' with a massive 284,000 followers and 86,000 subscribers to his 'Why Customers Buy' newsletter. Shaw is named one of the world's 'Top 150 Business Influencers' by LinkedIn. His company, Beyond Philosophy LLC, has been selected four times by the Financial Times as a top management consultancy. Shaw is co-host of the top 1.5% podcast 'The Intuitive Customer'—with over 600,000 downloads—and author of eight best-sellers on customer experience, Shaw is a sought-after keynote speaker. Follow Colin on LinkedIn.
Ryan Hamilton is a Professor of Marketing at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and co-author of 'The Intuitive Customer' book. An award-winning teacher and researcher in consumer psychology, he has been named one of Poets & Quants' "World’s Best 40 B-School Profs Under 40." His research focuses on how brands, prices, and choice architecture influence shopper decision-making, and his findings have been published in top academic journals and covered by major media outlets like The New York Times and CNN. His work highlights how psychology can help firms better understand and serve their customers. Ryan has a new book launch in June 2025 called “The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things” Harvard Business Press Follow Ryan on LinkedIn.
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