WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most Americans say they have recently seen advertisements from businesses that clearly appeared to have been created using artificial intelligence. Views of businesses’ use of AI in advertising are generally more negative than positive, with young adults the most critical.
The 2026 Bentley University-Gallup Business in Society survey finds that nearly eight in 10 Americans (79%) have seen advertisements in the past 30 days that looked like they were made using AI. Nearly half (49%) view businesses’ use of AI to create advertisements negatively, compared with 19% who view it positively. Thirty-two percent are neutral.
These findings align with other Bentley-Gallup survey results showing that Americans have grown cooler toward AI even as they have become more familiar with it. They also serve as a cautionary signal as businesses quickly expand their use of AI in advertising, from developing creative concepts and writing copy to generating images and videos.
Americans Are More Accepting When AI Supports Creativity
Consumers do not view every business use of AI in advertising the same way. Americans are generally more accepting when AI helps businesses create advertisements than when it replaces real people’s images and voices.
Three in four U.S. adults (75%) say it is acceptable for businesses to use AI to help employees brainstorm ideas or create early drafts of ads when that use is clearly disclosed. A smaller majority of Americans (53%) also find it acceptable for businesses to use AI to create the final text, images or videos used in advertisements.
Americans are far less accepting when businesses use AI to create people or voices in ads. Nearly two in three Americans (62%) say that practice is unacceptable, even when businesses clearly disclose that AI was used.
Younger U.S. Adults Are the Most Skeptical
Consistent with Bentley-Gallup findings and other research showing that younger adults have become increasingly skeptical of AI, those aged 18 to 29 (which includes Gen Z) are the most likely to view businesses’ use of AI to create advertisements negatively. Two-thirds (66%) in this age group express negative views, compared with 51% of adults aged 30 to 44, 38% of those aged 45 to 59 and 46% of those aged 60 and older.
Young adults are also notably less accepting than older Americans of all uses of AI in advertising. In fact, 73% of 18- to 29-year-olds say it’s unacceptable for businesses to use AI to create people or voices in ads — by far the highest of any age group.
Democrats (59%) and independents (49%) are more likely than Republicans (36%) to view businesses’ use of AI in advertising negatively, aligning with Republicans’ relatively higher trust that businesses will use the technology responsibly.
Republicans are also substantially more likely to view businesses’ use of AI in ads positively, though fewer than three in 10 do so. They are more open than Democrats and independents to using AI to create final advertising content, while majorities across all three political groups frown on using AI to create people or voices in advertisements.
Bottom Line
Consumers appear willing to accept AI as a creative tool, but they are less comfortable when it replaces people’s images and voices. As businesses expand their use of AI in advertising, the findings suggest that how they use the technology may influence consumers’ opinions about the companies.
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