Skepticism about artificial intelligence in marketing abounds, with nearly nine in 10 Canadian consumers saying they believe the ads, social posts, product images and other content they see from brands is at least in part created by AI.

A survey of 2,149 consumers across Canada and the U.S. conducted by Calgary-based marketing research firm Cashew found that 12% of respondents believe all brand content uses at least some AI, while 23% say most does.

Another 26% say about half of brand content uses AI, while 26% believe some of it does. Only 3% say no brand content uses AI.

The research also found that only 13% of respondents are very confident they can identify AI-generated content, while 44% feel somewhat confident. By comparison, 33% are not very confident and 11% are not at all confident.

Healthcare and wellness, news and media, financial services, customer reviews and food and beverage ranked as the top five categories where authenticity matters most.

As the Cashew report notes, being “real” is especially important in those categories, while it is less critical in fashion, footwear and tech, challenging the assumption that lifestyle brands place the highest value on authenticity.

“AI hasn’t made consumers stop valuing authenticity. It has changed what authenticity requires,” says Addy Graves, CEO of Cashew. “When people assume every brand can generate authentic-looking content, trust no longer comes from saying the right things. It comes from proving your claims with real customers, transparent communication and consistent performance.”

Authenticity emerged as consumers’ top priority, with 79% valuing “authentic & real brands, even if not flashy or polished,” compared with just 19% who preferred “entertaining ads and stunning visuals, even if not real.”

In fact, highly polished creative may now be working against brands. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of respondents said overly polished or “too perfect” visuals erode trust, ahead of product-versus-reality mismatches (18%) and generic messaging (14%).

Roughly one in four responses cite overly polished, airbrushed or staged imagery as evidence of “fake,” while an additional 12% explicitly call out detectable AI content (uncanny faces, wrong hands, robotic copy) as reputational turn-offs.

Product quality (38%), real customer stories (31%), creative ideas (22%), unique understanding of consumer culture (18%) all trump entertaining content (17%), personalized experiences (16%), a clear POV (16%), visual beauty and design (15%) and shared values (9%) in terms of helping a brand stand out.