AI Adoption Accelerates In APAC, But Consumers Struggle With Trust, Security, And Job Displacement Concerns

• New F5 research reveals an AI paradox, where APAC consumers are enthusiastic about AI’s potential but remain wary of its risks
• Building trust through transparency, security, and responsible use is key to driving broader adoption

Sydney, AUSTRALIA, APRIL 9, 2025 – Consumers across Asia Pacific (APAC) are facing an AI paradox: where the technology is embraced for productivity and efficiency, but fears around privacy risks, fraud, and employment impact hinder widespread trust. This was revealed in a new study by F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV), which explored the perceptions and attitudes APAC consumers have about AI.

Titled The 2025 AI Paradox: Understanding Consumer Perceptions in APAC, the research identified five key paradoxes influencing consumer trust in AI across nine APAC countries:

• Empowerment vs. Control: Consumers are excited about AI's potential but demand transparency and governance to feel in control of their data and experiences.
• Tech Savviness vs. Skepticism: Despite high levels of tech adoption, consumers remain skeptical about AI's reliability and ethical implications.
• Efficiency vs. Job Security: While AI promises increased efficiency, anxieties about job displacement are prevalent.
• Innovation vs. Environmental Concerns: Consumers recognise AI's innovative potential but are concerned about its environmental impact.
• Progress vs. Responsibility: Consumers expect organisations to adopt AI responsibly, prioritising fairness, security, and accountability.

"This research highlights a clear gap in trust when it comes to AI adoption in APAC. Consumers recognise AI’s benefits but remain cautious about security risks, ethical use, and its long-term impact on jobs and society. Organisations must proactively address these concerns by embedding transparency, governance, and security into every AI-driven experience. Without trust, AI adoption will stall, limiting its potential to drive innovation and efficiency," said Mohan Veloo, CTO for APCJ at F5.

The study also revealed a disconnect between personal and professional AI experiences. While many individuals experience productivity gains from AI in their personal lives, these benefits are not being fully realised in the workplace. This suggests a need for organisations to focus on better integrating AI into workflows and providing employees with the training and resources they need to use AI effectively in their jobs.

"For AI to deliver real business value, organisations must ensure it is seamlessly integrated into their digital infrastructure while maintaining security and performance at scale. At F5, we help businesses deploy AI-powered applications securely, protect against AI-driven threats like deepfake fraud, and ensure AI solutions run reliably across multi-cloud environments. By addressing these security and scalability challenges, we empower enterprises to fully harness AI’s potential without compromising trust," added Veloo.

Key findings from the report include:

• Strong AI familiarity across Asia: AI awareness is high across all markets, with familiarity exceeding 89 per cent and surpassing 90 per cent in most regions. China leads at 98 per cent, driven by aggressive adoption strategies and deep technological integration.
• Enterprises are not yet unlocking AI's full potential in the workplace: While 73 per cent of consumers report increased personal productivity with AI, the professional landscape shows much lower gains, with 52 per cent reporting no noticeable change in workplace efficiency. However, the report revealed that AI delivers the greatest productivity gains with consistent use—46.2 per cent of professionals who use AI daily report significant improvements, highlighting the power of continuous interaction. Organisations must bridge this gap through better AI integration, training, and workflow design.
• Rising trust concerns amid security risks: APAC has become a hotspot for fraud, with fraud rates having spiked significantly in Singapore (+207 per cent), Thailand (+206 per cent), and Indonesia (+201 per cent) in 2024. In particular, AI-driven fraud is weakening consumer trust across the region; APAC saw a 194 per cent increase in deepfake fraud and a 121 per cent increase in identity fraud in 2024. As AI adoption grows, organisations must navigate the challenge of implementing robust security measures to build consumer trust while scaling AI solutions responsibly.
• Job displacement concerns hinder AI acceptance, but vary across APAC: In APAC, concerns about losing one’s job to automation are hindering consumers’ acceptance of AI in the workplace. However, concerns about AI-driven job losses differ markedly across the region. India and Singapore show the highest levels of concern, with 97 per cent of consumers in both markets being slightly to very concerned about AI displacing their jobs. This is in contrast with Japan, where attitudes are much more relaxed—only 57 per cent of Japanese consumers are slightly concerned, and 30 per cent are not concerned at all.
• AI excels in speed, but trust still needs the human touch: APAC consumers recognise the efficiency gains that AI brings, with nearly half of consumers preferring AI for efficiency-driven tasks like customer support (47.9 per cent) and personal shopping (45.6 per cent). APAC consumers also have confidence in AI-powered insights, turning to AI for data-driven decisions in healthcare (40.1 per cent) and financial advice (39.2 per cent). However, AI falls short when it comes to emotional and sensory experiences; APAC consumers still prefer human interaction in food preparation (32.2 per cent) and emotional support (26.6 per cent), where empathy and personal touch matter.
• AI’s environmental footprint raises sustainability concerns: AI’s rapid surge brings a pressing challenge—the need to balance innovation with AI’s growing energy demands. Growing AI adoption is projected to cause APAC’s data centre capacity to more than double by 2028. As such, majority of APAC consumers (53.8 per cent) believe that while AI’s advantages are undeniable, efforts must be made to reduce its resource consumption. APAC organisations need to ensure that AI evolves responsibly, highlighting the region’s growing need for energy-efficient AI models, sustainable computing infrastructure, and greener data centres.

"This research makes it clear that consumers want the best of both worlds. They embrace AI for its efficiency and speed in transactional interactions, but still value human touch for emotional connections and complex decisions,” said Manoj Menon, Founder and CEO at Twimbit. “Organisations that succeed in the AI era will be those that strategically blend AI capabilities with human expertise—creating experiences that are both efficient and empathetic. By addressing security concerns, building transparent AI systems, and finding the right balance between automation and human connection, businesses can build the trust necessary to fully realise AI's transformative potential across APAC."

Twimbit conducted research on behalf of F5 in 2025 to evaluate consumer perceptions and attitudes about AI in APAC. 900 respondents were surveyed across nine key markets: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan.

To learn more about the findings, please download the full report here.

About F5

F5 is a multicloud application security and delivery company committed to bringing a better digital world to life. F5 partners with the world’s largest, most advanced organisations to secure every app—on premises, in the cloud, or at the edge. F5 enables businesses to continuously stay ahead of threats while delivering exceptional, secure digital experiences for their customers. For more information, go to f5.com. (NASDAQ: FFIV)

You can also follow @F5 on X or visit us on LinkedIn and Facebook to learn about F5, its partners, and technologies. F5 is a trademark, service mark, or tradename of F5, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. The use of the terms “partner,” “partners,” “partnership,” or “partnering” in this press release does not imply that a joint venture exists between F5 and any other company.

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