Surprising New Study Reveals Humans Struggle to Spot AI-Generated Content, says Nexcess

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Jun 14, 2023, 08:37 ET

Younger generations were more likely to distinguish between AI and human elements.

ATLANTA, June 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexcess, the premium hosting provider optimized for WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento, today released a study on AI's efficacy and humans' ability to detect it in content and visuals. The study found that on average respondents could identify the AI-generated content only about 55% of the time.

How the study was conducted

Success rates varied by participants’ ages. Younger generations tended to be more successful at detecting AI. Participants in the 18-24 age bracket answered correctly 61% of the time, compared to 51% of 45-54 year olds.

One thousand individuals claiming to be moderately familiar with AI were provided with side-by-side sets of images and copy. For each set, they were asked to identify which was AI-generated and which was created by humans.

Participants correctly identified AI-generated copy 57% of the time, while the detection of AI-generated images had only a 53% success rate.

Success rates varied by participants' ages. Younger generations tended to be more successful at detecting AI. Participants in the 18-24 age bracket answered correctly 61% of the time, compared to 51% of 45-54 year olds.

Read the full study here, complete with an interactive quiz, to see how your AI detection skills stack up.

AI usage and its effects in business

Tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Copy.ai have exploded in popularity. Usage of AI technology has piqued the interest of the public and businesses alike.

With promises of optimizing workflows and improving performance, it's easy to see why businesses are interested. However, the business sector remains unclear on its effects on sales, user experience, and customer retention.

Nexcess conducted the study in order to assess how businesses can utilize AI technology to optimize and improve the performance of ecommerce stores.

The study found that participants were somewhat successful in correctly identifying AI-generated copy and imagery. Overall, participants were more likely to detect AI-generated copy over AI-generated visuals.

Given the success rates of AI detection, business owners should proceed with caution — utilizing AI as a tool to increase efficiency, while also keeping a close eye on output. If used properly, AI tools can be instrumental in optimizing production and improving the performance of your ecommerce store

"It is intriguing to see the ways humans can identify AI — and the ways they cannot," says Terry Trout, SVP of Marketing.

"We're hoping that our AI study guides business owners in utilizing these tools, and understanding how AI is received by consumers. At Nexcess, we're all about transformation and our goal is to help online business owners dream big and do more online," adds Trout.

With an array of offerings spanning enterprise level to SMBs to starter markets, Nexcess supports sites and stores around the world with fully managed hosting for WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, and more.

"At Nexcess, we pride ourselves on helping organizations of all sizes start, manage, and expand their online businesses — and we've been doing it for 23 years," adds Trout.

To learn more about best-in-class hosting, visit Nexcess.net.

Test your ability to detect AI and read the full report: AI vs. human study: Can consumers tell the difference between AI and human-generated content?

About Nexcess
Nexcess is the best place to build your business online. Optimized for your hosting and solution needs, we provide a managed hosting infrastructure, curated tools, and a team of experts that make it easy to build, manage, and grow your business online. Serving SMBs and the designers, developers, and agencies who create for them for more than 22 years, we provide a fully managed, high-performance cloud solution built to optimize WordPress, WooCommerce and Magento sites and stores. As a company within The Liquid Web Family of Brands, we collectively manage 10 global data centers, have more than 500,000+ sites under management, serve over 187,000 paying and 2.5 million freemium software customers spanning 150 countries, and provide unparalleled service from a dedicated group of experts 24/7/365. As an industry leader in customer service, the rapidly expanding brand family has been recognized as an industry leader and among INC. Magazine's 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies for twelve years.

Media Contact
Andy Bissonette
Director of Marketing, Nexcess
[email protected]

SOURCE Nexcess LLC