The Euroconsumers Forum in Brussels brought together the European Commission, Google, @DOT Europe and Codemotion to find out how AI is already transforming consumer experiences and how the next generation might be inspired to use and develop it as they grow up.

The session kicked off with the results of the latest Consumer Digital Empowerment Index. The Index takes the pulse of how consumers feel empowered by digital services in their daily lives, and highlights what would make things better. 

Each year since 2022, a quantitative online survey has captured the views of 20,000 EU residents across 10 different countries who are active users of the internet. The samples are weighted to represent the national distributions of internet users in terms of age, gender, region and educational level.

Consumer Empowerment Index: AI deep dive

The latest 2024 release included a new deep dive into consumers’ experiences with AI and its more sophisticated iteration Generative AI (GenAI).  It showed that consumers were noticing AI in areas like media and information services and in retail, but less so in government and public administration, health and wellbeing, sport or mobility and tourism. 

Are people satisfied that GenAI gives accurate results? 

On the whole, there’s a sense that GenAI tools like ChatGPT provide people with accurate results for their particular needs. Overall, 60% of users of GenAI applications agreed with this, but only 14% said they completely agreed, and 46% reported they somewhat agreed. 

One in ten said GenAI tools did not provide them with accurate results for my needs, and  30% said that they didn’t know.  

This uncertainty is understandable and people should be aware that applications like ChatGPT, Gemini and DeepSeek are Large Language Models (LLMs) which generate answers in a different way to information resources like an encyclopedia.  The information presented can vary depending on the way the user has asked or prompted the tool, and the risk of presenting the wrong information is real.  

What do people feel AI can deliver? 

There was a sense of optimism that AI could contribute to achieving key goals like sustainability and longer lives, this was balanced out by concerns about loss of jobs or manipulation of public opinion, and again there was a large percentage of people who were unsure. 

This makes sense given the newness of the technology’s use in mainstream consumer settings and the different discourses that are happening around its potential impact. People also expressed worries about privacy (57%), cybersecurity (59%) and unfair discrimination (25%).

A clear role for the AI leaders of the future   

In the survey we see a familiar pattern from other research – the enormous potential of AI and GenAI sitting alongside some key concerns about any intended or unintended consequences.

Striking the balance between innovation and careful respect and nurturing of all that makes us human is a key challenge now and will be well into the future. 

This is why projects like the Kids AI Leadership Academy are such an important basis for young people to start to consider the role of technology in their lives as they grow up. 

The Kids AI Leadership Academy is a joint initiative of the Consumer Empowerment Project  (CEP) and Codemotion. Its aim is to introduce children to AI, fostering leadership and curiosity through interactive, age-appropriate learning.

So far the programme has been rolled out in Italy and Spain for children aged between 9 and 13.  It delivers technical skills to understand how GenAI works through creative processes by taking pictures they have drawn and learning how to train an AI to automatically recognise the images. 

This type of project at a young age, could help to tackle the challenge laid out by a member of Italy’s data protection authority when he said:

However it is not just algorithms that children are discovering more about. The programme also encourages them to think critically about new technologies so that they can build an understanding not just of the mechanics, but of the limits of GenAI. 

• You can rewatch the presentation and discussion of the Consumer Digital Empowerment Index findings on AI here 
• Click on the link to rewatch the Kids Leadership Academy film and discussion

Panelists: 

• Sebastian Sposito,Public Affairs Manager, Europe at Google 
• Sahin Yazici Legal and Policy Officer Consumer Law Enforcement & Redress, European Commission 
• Constantin Gissler, Director General @DOT Europe 
• Krisztina Stump, Head Of Unit, Media Convergence and Social Media Unit, European Commission 
• Marco Anelli, Group Service Manager Statistical Surveys, Euroconsumers
• Chiara Russo, Co-founder & Executive President, Codemotion