A tiny fraction of the Australian population believe artificial intelligence is improving the quality of products and services, a new report has revealed.

Consumer group CHOICE’s latest report showed Australians are quite sceptical of AI and many already see negative impacts from the emerging technology.

Just nine per cent of the population believe AI is improving the quality of products and services, while 49 per cent say AI is making the prevalence of scams much worse.

CHOICE’s senior campaigns and policy advisor Jordan Cornelius said the massive potential of AI could result in one of the biggest shifts in power away from consumers.

“AI has the potential to erode our ability to assess value or shop around – through highly individualised surveillance pricing, dark patterns, and poor customer service experience,” Mr Cornelius said.

Half of the population believe AI chat bots for customer service are making their experience worse and 83 per cent believe the government should ensure laws mitigate the risk of AI to consumers.

Mr Cornelius said the ability of AI to supercharge scams was “one of the scariest parts” of the emerging technology.

“In the hands of scammers, AI has been used to generate deepfake videos, synthetic voice clones, and scam advertisements to lure people in so scammers can steal their money,” he said.

“We’re already seeing the disastrous impacts AI can have on consumers, and without safeguards, this is likely to worsen.

“We urgently need the government to introduce laws that address the emerging risks AI poses to consumers – a sentiment echoed by 83 per cent of Australians in our survey.

“Without new, stronger laws, Australia’s consumer protection framework will simply not be able to keep pace with the significant harms associated with AI.”

The report also found that 70 per cent of Australians disagree with the idea that businesses should be trusted to use AI how they think is best.

CHOICE has recommended a ban on businesses using personal information to set individualised prices for consumers.

It has also called for strengthening proposed privacy reforms, more resources for the ACCC to tackle AI scams, placing AI chat bots, email services, organic search, marketplaces and dating apps into the Scams Prevention Framework.

The consumer group also advocates for a pathway for Australians to access timely and fair redress if they have troubles with digital services.

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