8 in 10 Italians have already talked to an AI. But 7 in 10 don't trust it enough to let it decide anything important.
The figure was published on July 4 in Corriere della Sera, but it tells us something anyone working with AI has known for a while.
Nearly 8 in 10 Italians have already interacted with an AI agent. Yet 71% are not willing to delegate important decisions to it. And 89% are ready to abandon a purchase if the AI service isn't up to par.
The Customer Experience Unlocked 2026 study by indigo.ai captures a market that has adopted the technology but hasn't yet solved the central problem: trust.
The gap no model solves on its own
Faced with this data, the temptation is to look for the solution in the technology itself. More accurate models, faster answers, fewer errors.
But it isn't a performance problem. It's a perception problem.
When a user interacts with a system they can't tell is human or artificial, that has no recognizable name, that changes tone with every session, distrust is a rational response, not a bias to overcome.
74% of Italians would buy more if they could count on an efficient AI chat. 67% want an empathetic, human service. 58% want personalization.
These aren't contradictory requirements. They're the description of a well-designed AI avatar.
Media Engineering's point of view
At Media Engineering we've been working on this problem for years, before it became a research statistic.
Trust in an AI system isn't built by hiding that it's artificial. It's built by giving it a clear identity: a face, a voice, a name, a consistent personality. And by stating explicitly, from the very start, that it is an AI system, as required, moreover, by Article 50 of the EU AI Act from August 2, 2026.
Linda, our AI avatar, is designed exactly this way. She doesn't pretend to be human: she presents herself for what she is, with a recognizable identity that users learn to recognize and come to trust over time.
The result? Longer interactions, higher completion rates and, in projects with our clients, qualified leads collected without human intervention.
What it means for your company
If you're using or evaluating AI systems in the customer journey, the indigo.ai study tells you one precise thing: adoption is already here. The barrier isn't cultural, it's experiential.
Users don't reject AI. They reject implementations that don't respect their intelligence.
Investing in an AI avatar with a defined identity, transparent disclosure and quality interaction isn't an added cost compared to a generic chatbot. It's the difference between a tool that builds trust and one that erodes it.
Discover how an AI avatar with its own identity turns trust into results
Tell us about your customer journey and we'll show you how Linda can fit into your specific context.
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