This analysis draws on data collected for the 2026 Avast Safe Tech Report, based on a survey of more than 13,000 adults across 12 countries conducted from May 22 to June 19, 2026. The data was weighted by age, gender, and region to ensure it was representative. The findings align with patterns also visible in the Fearless Planet Index, a live view of global cyberthreat activity from Gen Threat Labs, supporting the company's mission to build a Fearless Planet.
Most people are confident they could spot AI-generated content
AI-generated content is becoming more sophisticated by the day. Even those who are technologically savvy may not be able to easily distinguish what's been created with AI and what is authentic.
But despite AI capabilities improving rapidly, the 2026 Avast Safe Tech Report indicates that globally, 56% of people are confident they could tell the difference between something genuine and something generated or manipulated by AI — even if it’s done convincingly.
Confidence is even higher in the U.S. and U.K., where 69% and 70% of adults, respectively, say they could tell something genuine from content convincingly generated or manipulated by AI. Globally, men are more confident than women (59% vs. 52%).
But AI-driven scams are reaching people at scale
That confidence comes at a time when scammers are using AI to create and distribute online scams, including deepfake videos, at scale. As detailed in the H1 2026 Gen Threat Report, Gen (the company behind Avast) analyzed tens of millions of video encounters that showed AI involvement, and found that about 1 in 30 (3.2%) was a scam. At that scale, even a small share can mean a meaningful volume of misleading videos.
These scams aren’t necessarily going unnoticed by consumers. Research conducted for the 2026 Safe Tech Report found that 25% of people worldwide recall being targeted by an online scam in the last 12 months.
Despite the confidence, people are still falling for scams
Thinking you’re AI-literate doesn’t make you immune to online scams. While over half of adults worldwide are confident they can detect AI-generated content, 13% recall falling victim to an online scam in the last 12 months alone.
"What we see in the threat landscape reinforces what consumers are telling us here: spotting that something was made with AI is only part of the challenge. Through our Fearless Planet Index, we see how scams are evolving in the real world, and AI is increasingly making the first impression more convincing. But underneath, attackers are still pulling the same psychological levers – urgency, trust, fear and the promise of something too good to pass up. The technology may be changing, but the human behaviors scammers exploit remain remarkably consistent."
– Michal Salat, Threat Intelligence Director at Gen Threat Labs
Michal Salat, Threat Intelligence Director at Gen Threat Labs (Gen is the company behind Avast), believes that overconfidence in your ability to detect AI may actually backfire: When people feel confident about their AI-savviness, they may let their guard down — and that’s when scammers can strike.
These scams can sting: in the last 12 months, 8% of all adults globally have been financially impacted by scams, and in this group, the average reported loss was nearly $1,160 USD. Falling victim to an online scam can result in lost money, but it may also expose personal information that scammers can use for identity theft, account takeovers, or further social engineering attacks.
Gen Z’s confidence may be creating a blind spot
Gen Z is the most confident in their ability to spot manipulated content, but the most likely to fall victim to online scams. It’s also the generation that reports the highest scam exposure in general, with 33% of Gen Z respondents globally saying they were targeted by an online scam in the past 12 months.
Worldwide, 20% of Gen Z adults say they fell victim to a scam, more than three times the rate among Baby Boomers (6%). And 12% of Gen Z adults were financially impacted, compared with just 4% of Boomers.
The risky trend: People are trusting AI with potentially sensitive documents
AI confidence may also shape what people are willing to share and where they share it. According to the 2026 Avast Safe Tech Report, 52% of consumers worldwide have shared or considered sharing personal information or a work document with an AI tool:
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20% of consumers have shared or considered sharing a CV or resume.
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20% have shared or considered sharing a work document or presentation.
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18% have shared or considered sharing screenshots of private messages or emails.
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12% have shared or considered sharing an ID or form with personal details.
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11% have shared or considered sharing a medical, insurance, or benefits document.
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10% have shared or considered sharing a bank statement or proof of income.
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9% have shared or considered sharing a contract or legal document.
While AI can help interpret or refine information, significant privacy risks exist. According to the National Cybersecurity Alliance, public AI platforms often retain input data for training purposes, and it may inadvertently expose your data to other users.
AI models are trained on enormous volumes of data, and some of it is inevitably sensitive: health records, financial data, biometric data used for facial recognition. IBM notes that the more sensitive data gets collected and moved around, the greater the odds some of it ends up exposed or used in ways that infringe on privacy.
The 2026 International AI Safety Report points to a specific mechanism: researchers have shown that carefully crafted inputs can pull training data about real individuals back out of a model. For models trained on health or financial data, the report warns this could mean serious privacy leaks.
“Being confident you’d spot an AI fake and knowing when and how to protect your data are two different skills. However, confidence in one can convince people they’re safe with the other, and that’s the trap,” said Richard Watts, Head of Avast.
“Chatbots aren’t confidants. Check what a tool actually does with your data before you share anything and remember that tool is yet another place your information could be exposed. If you wouldn’t want it repeated to a stranger, don’t hand it over to the bots.”
How to help protect your information and finances
The explosion of AI brings real benefits, but also real risks. Being an informed consumer is your best defense against scams, and a few consistent habits can help: share less by default, treat urgency and too-good offers as reasons to slow down rather than act, and talk to friends and family about scams before, not after, something happens.
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Don’t be overconfident: The 2026 Avast Safe Tech Report shows that confidence in spotting AI doesn't guarantee protection from scams. Stay cautious even if you think you know how to spot a potential threat.
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Avoid sharing sensitive information with AI tools: Don’t upload documents you wouldn’t want exposed in a breach, including work documents, private messages, IDs, medical documents, bank statements, and legal documents. If you must share sensitive materials, read the Terms of Service carefully to understand exactly how your data will be stored and used.
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Pause before acting: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t give in to urgency — that's often a scammer’s tactic. Verify that a person or website is legitimate before sharing information or money; AI fakes are becoming harder to spot, even for the tech-savvy.
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Monitor your financial accounts: Regularly check your bank statements and set fraud alerts whenever possible.
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Gen Z: Take extra precautions: Younger adults may be more exposed to scam risks than other generations. Members of Gen Z should stay vigilant, no matter how confident they feel about their tech skills.
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Get AI-powered scam protection: Avast One’s AI-powered detection can help you identify misleading messages, suspicious links, and scams on websites before you interact with them.
Methodology
This report is based on an online survey commissioned by Avast and fielded in 2026. The global study was conducted across 12 markets (the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Japan, and Mexico) from 22 May to 19 June 2026, among 13,003 adults aged 18 and older. There were around 1,000 adults per market except the UK, with the UK’s 2,001 respondents weighted down so every market counts equally. Data in the study was weighted by age, gender, and region to be nationally representative.
