Most customers don’t trust organisations over their data use in AI

Despite a difficult economic environment, organisations continue to invest in privacy, with spending up significantly from $1.2 million just three years ago to $2.7 million on average this year, according to Cisco’s ‘2023 Data Privacy Benchmark Study’.

However, the research found a significant disconnect between data privacy measures by companies and what consumers expect from organisations, especially when it relates to how they apply and use AI.

“When it comes to earning and building trust, compliance is not enough,” said Harvey Jang, Cisco Vice President and Chief Privacy Officer.

Transparency was the top priority for consumers (39%) to trust companies, whilst organisations surveyed felt compliance was the number one priority for building customer trust (30%).

Even though 96% of organisations believe they have processes in place to meet the responsible and ethical standards that customers expect for AI-based solutions and services, 92% of respondents believe their organisation needs to do more to reassure customers about their data.

Over 70% of organisations surveyed indicated they were getting “significant” or “very significant” benefits from privacy investments, such as building trust with customers, reducing sales delays, or mitigating losses from data breaches.On average, organisations are getting benefits estimated to be 1.8 times spending, and 94% of all respondents indicated they believe the benefits of privacy outweigh the costs overall.

Although 88% of respondents believe their data would be safer if stored only within their country or region, research indicates this does not hold up once costs, security and other trade-offs are considered.