Cisco survey on consumer privacy finds kids are savviest, broad concerns over AI

The kids are alright—at least when it comes to privacy.

That’s according to findings from Cisco’s 2023 Consumer Privacy Survey of 2,600 adults in 12 countries from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The report indicated that consumers are increasingly invested in privacy and concerned about the future applications of AI, among other issues.

“If organizations are not transparent about how they use customers’ personal data or how they make data-driven decisions, consumers more willingly take action to protect their data and themselves,” according to the Cisco researchers.

Researchers highlighted points of interest from the survey:

• Consumers, specifically younger consumers, are taking privacy seriously
• Governmental action and privacy laws are seen as positive
• Local data storage may be safer, but not considered worth it
• AI using personal information is a concern
• Companies need to earn trust on AI
• Generative AI risks are well understood by most users, but only one-half are taking action to protect themselves

Privacy active. This is Cisco’s fifth such annual survey, which focuses on the “privacy active” user and the way consumers approach security online. Privacy actives, as defined by the survey, are “people who say they care about privacy, are willing to act to protect it, and most importantly, have already taken action by switching companies or providers over their data policies or data-sharing practice.” And taking that approach is heavily weighted to younger users, with 42% of those 18–24 identified as privacy actives and only 15% of those over 75 meeting that standard.

Users have increased exercising their data subject access rights, with 28% of consumers doing so as opposed to 24% last year. Once again, the age gap was starkly apparent, with 42% of those 18–24 exercising those rights as opposed to 6% of those 75 and up.

AI things. Survey respondents were enthusiastic about AI, with 48% of those polled reporting that they believe the technology can be useful in their day-to-day lives, as opposed to 23% who disagree. A majority (54%) said they would be willing to “share their anonymized personal data to help improve AI products and decision-making,” with 29% coming down against that.

Yet there are concerns over the deployment of AI. First, 77% of respondents said they believe organizations must be careful in using the technology. And 60% reported losing trust in organizations for their use of AI, nearly exactly matching the 62% who said they were concerned about the way organizations would deploy it.