What Users Think of Generative AI: A Cross-Platform NLP Analysis of Trust and Friction in App Store Reviews

Abstract

Generative AI (GenAI) applications have achieved rapid consumer adoption, yet little large-scale research examines user-perceived quality, trust, and adoption barriers. We present one of the first cross-application analyses of app store reviews for six major GenAI applications (ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, DeepSeek, and Perplexity), comprising 17,012 English-language reviews from Google Play and the Apple App Store. We combine BERTopic topic modeling with RoBERTa sentiment classification and evaluate cross-application differences using chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis, and multinomial logistic regression with Bonferroni correction. Both components are validated against human coding using a stratified sample of 300 reviews. Results show that negative sentiment concentrates in advertising (91%), authentication (89%), server reliability (83%), and subscription pricing (73%). Sentiment differs significantly across applications, with Claude exhibiting the highest negative sentiment (47.7%) alongside a strongly enthusiastic user base, indicating statistically significant polarization. These findings are robust despite unequal review counts across applications. As exploratory observations, a subset of DeepSeek reviews raised geopolitical and data privacy concerns related to its Chinese origin, while a proposed Trust Friction Score summarizes application-specific trust and usability barriers into interpretable dimensions. The study provides validated and actionable evidence on user trust, usability, and adoption barriers in consumer generative AI applications.