ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds tremendous promise for consumers, offering benefits such as improved efficiency in customer service, innovative tools for work, communication and entertainment, and more personalised services. However, significant challenges still exist. Consumer groups have reported a range of risks, including a lack of transparency and accountability, as well as manipulative practices that can mislead consumers. Additional concerns include bias and discrimination, threats to privacy, and vulnerabilities in security systems. 

These issues have contributed to low consumer trust in AI. In 2023, more than half of people reported feeling nervous about AI products and services – a 13% increase from the year before. Meanwhile, 57% of consumers believe that AI poses a significant threat to their privacy. Our research further highlights where consumer safeguards in AI could be strengthened. Despite these concerns, AI is growing rapidly, with an annual growth rate of 37% projected through 2030.

Our Vision for Fair and Responsible AI

Fair and responsible AI means designing with consumers from the outset. Our vision is for an AI landscape that is truly open and accessible, upholds the highest benchmarks of consumer protection, features inclusive and representative governance frameworks, and ensures consumers have meaningful avenues for redress and representation.   

For World Consumer Rights Day 2024, we identified four key priorities to guide this vision and ensure consumers are at the centre of AI policymaking. These were informed by insights from consumer advocates in over 30 countries. 

  1. Consumer advocacy organisations possess the skills, knowledge and resources to advocate for fair and responsible AI policies in their jurisdiction​ 
  2. Consumer perspectives are heard and involved in policymaking processes​ 
  3. National governments adjust policies in response to consumer advocacy​ 
  4. Providers can champion best practices and share with other providers/researchers/advocates in formalised settings 

We need a collective response to ensure these priorities are implemented and upheld. 

Read our vision

Designing AI with the Consumer in Mind

The AI opportunity for consumers is increasingly clear – personalised experiences, efficient customer service, and innovative new products to speed up work and communication. But despite being at the frontier of its deployment and use, consumers are rarely involved in the design of technology policy. Only 20% of consumer organisations are currently involved in decision-making processes on emerging technologies like AI. This gap must be addressed if AI is to be truly inclusive and human centred.  

Consumer organisations stand ready to bridge this gap and bring the consumer voice to AI design. They are the trusted authority for consumers around the world. With greater resources, tools and strategies, they could make significant headwind in improving consumer experiences and building consumer trust.   

The AI Advocacy Lab  

Our experience shows how the lives of consumers are changed when consumer advocates are provided with skills, resources and connections.     

We are launching the AI Advocacy Lab, a global network and initiative to strengthen the capacity of consumer organisations to both effectively advocate for and utilise AI technologies. By increasing the confidence, skills and resources of these groups, they can better represent the diverse needs of consumers in AI policy-making and regulation. This initiative also empowers consumer organisations to adopt AI in innovative ways, improving their operations and reaching their goals more effectively.  

The AI Advocacy Lab will serve as a bridge between consumer organisations, regulators and AI providers, ensuring that consumer voices shape AI policy and product design from the outset.

How to get involved

Join us in creating and developing this initiative, coming in at the ground level to shape its direction and scope.   

We are looking for supporters to join our multistakeholder Steering Committee on AI, which will help set and advise the strategy and resources of the AI Advocacy Lab. Broadly, this will cover three areas:  

  • The design and roll out of a training programme on AI for consumer organisations.   
  • An innovation fund for Consumers International Members to more effectively adopt and integrate AI in their operations and advocacy.  
  • Creation of a consumer insights channel to source and understand how consumers around the world experience and respond to different aspects of AI. 

AI Chatbots Experiment

In 2024 we coordinated a global exercise among our Members to test generative AI chatbots. Consumer advocates in over 30 countries assessed these new tools using trust measures we designed, reporting positive and intuitive experiences but also uncovering several instances where safeguards could be strengthened. As part of our programme for World Consumer Rights Day, we shared the results with a community of more than 100 organisations committed to consumer protection and provided them with deep dives on responsible data policy and the challenges of deepfakes, scams and misinformation. 

Read more

Join us

We work with leading organisations across government, business, academia and civil society who are united behind our vision to put consumers at the forefront of policy-making. We mobilise a global network of consumer advocacy organisations and powerful private sector actors around core issues to create impactful campaigns, advocate for robust policies, gather evidence and bring the consumer voice into policymaking at the international level. 

Together, we can build a future where artificial intelligence works for everyone. To learn more about our work or to express your interest, please reach out to impact@consint.org.