New study reveals a widening gap between user expectations and real-world AI experiences, as 72% of consumers are excited about AI but 69% find it frustrating to use
New research from Pendo and Appinio reveals that while public optimism about artificial intelligence remains high, everyday frustrations are preventing the technology from reaching its full potential. The findings point to a widening ‘AI experience gap,’ the mismatch between what users expect from AI tools and what they actually experience when using them. If left unaddressed, this risks eroding the productivity and ROI leaders expect from their AI investments.
The research found that nearly three-quarters (72%) describe AI as exciting and full of opportunity, yet almost as many (69%) find it useful but often frustrating. Among regular users, almost all (95%) spend time each week re-prompting tools to get a better answer. While 46% of users say they keep prompting until they get the desired result, 38% switch to a search engine when AI fails, and 16% give up entirely. Although almost half (48%) of respondents say AI saves them more than an hour each week, that value is reduced by the time lost in repeated prompting and inconsistent results.
Confidence in AI results is also mixed, with 37% firmly trusting AI outputs to be accurate, and fewer than half (46%) feeling confident in their own ability to get the best results from these tools. In addition, 86% say companies should provide training or guidance on how to use AI effectively, showing that people want more support to unlock its full value.
The findings highlight a clear experience gap that has implications for companies implementing agents. As AI becomes embedded into business workflows, the same behaviours of repeated prompting, switching tools, or abandoning tasks represent wasted investment and disengaged users at scale. Over time, this AI experience gap is lowering productivity, confidence, and overall ROI.
“AI isn’t falling short because the technology is weak,” said Todd Olson, CEO and co-founder of Pendo. “Many people simply don’t yet know how to use agents effectively. It’s up to agent builders to study user behaviour, understand where people get stuck, and continue improving the experience until users get better outcomes.”
The research underlines that companies need visibility into how employees actually interact with AI tools. Without this visibility, leaders risk diminished productivity and growing user frustration.
Pendo helps organisations close the experience gap. Its platform of products, including the new Agent Analytics, helps companies measure how their SaaS and agentic software performs, understand where users encounter friction, and take action to improve the experience.
Methodology:
The findings are based on a survey of 1,000 nationally representative UK adults conducted by Appinio on behalf of Pendo in October 2025. The research explored usage frequency, satisfaction, trust and emotional responses to AI-powered tools, providing insight into how people interact with emerging agentic technologies.
About Pendo:
At Pendo, we’re on a mission to improve the world’s experience with software. Thousands of global companies use Pendo to provide better software experiences for 900 million people every month. Our integrated Software Experience Management (SXM) platform manages the entire enterprise software asset: customer- and employee-facing applications; desktop and mobile platforms; and SaaS, AI, and agentic software. Learn more at pendo.com
Media contact: Laura Baverman, laura@pendo.io
About Appinio:
Appinio is a global market research company that combines an AI-powered insights platform with expert consultancy. Operating in over 190 markets, Appinio delivers actionable consumer insights to help businesses make better decisions. Appinio applies scientifically proven, innovative research methodologies to predict real-world outcomes with superior accuracy. Trusted by 3,000+ industry leaders worldwide, Appinio is Europe’s fastest-growing market research company. The company was founded in 2014 by Jonathan Kurfess (Advisory Board member), Max Honig (CEO), and Kai Granaß (CTO) and is headquartered in Hamburg. For more information, visit appinio.com.