AI is delivering efficiency for brands, but new global research from Havas suggests that too few AI enabled brand experiences are delivering the same value for consumers.
Across more than 21,00 evaluations of AI enabled brand experiences, only 9% achieved the highest Valuable AI Experience Score.
Yet the reward for getting it right is significant: high-scoring AI experiences were associated with 4.4x higher engagement, 1.6x stronger Brand Desire, and 1.x greater Growth potential than low-scoring experiences.
Havas calls the challenge the AI Efficiency Trap: when AI creates efficiency for the brand without creating enough value for the consumer. To help brands avoid it, Havas developed the Valuable AI Experience Score, a new measure for evaluating whether AI enabled brand experiences are creating consumer value.
The warning signs are clear. Across the seven markets studied:
- 50% agree that the use of AI by brands can make things look, feel, or sound the same.
- 56% say AI used by brands can feel misleading.
- Just 29% believe the use of AI by brands feels human.
To understand what separates stronger AI enabled experiences from weaker ones, Havas identified three qualities that consistently shape value:
- Utility: the experience feels useful and relevant
- Credibility: the experience feels believable and trustworthy.
- Appeal: the experience feels engaging and exciting.
Together, these qualities form the foundation of the Valuable AI Experience Score. The Score also accounts for experiences that feel misleading or manipulative, recognizing that AI can reduce value as well as create it. That gives brands a practical way to judge where AI should lead, where it should support, and where it should stay out.
