Most Consumers Say AI Agent Firms Should Cover Fraud
A SEON survey published November 3, 2026 shows US consumers are wary of letting agents spend their money.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
Live Poll
Would you trust an AI assistant to make a purchase with your credit card?
A SEON survey of 2,026 US adults found 65% of those with an opinion say the company behind an AI agent should be responsible for fraudulent agent transactions. The survey was fielded October 2–6, 2026 and published November 3, 2026; it measures attitudes, not actual fraud losses.
Why it matters
As AI agents are increasingly trusted to act on users' behalf, including with payment details, the question of who absorbs losses from agent-initiated fraud is becoming a live consumer issue. Respondents are split, with many unwilling to share financial information at all.
The survey is an attitudinal measure, not a technical benchmark, and it reports no performance or security specifications for any agent system. Its figures describe how consumers feel about agent authority rather than how agents behave under attack.
The players
SEON
A fraud-prevention software company that commissioned the survey of US adults on AI agent trust and liability.
The details
AI agents are software systems that take multi-step actions for a user, such as completing purchases, rather than only answering questions. When an agent executes a transaction, the chain of authorization becomes less clear than a conventional card payment, which is why respondents disagreed on who should answer for a fraudulent one. The survey found 43% lack confidence in judging whether an agent's request is legitimate, and 39% do not trust agents to spot suspicious situations on their behalf.
Timeline
Survey fieldwork ran October 2–6, 2026.
Findings were published November 3, 2026.
The Tech Race
The survey gives a consumer-side baseline for how the industry will need to assign liability as agents move into payments. It does not place any specific company or product in a competitive race, and no comparable competitor survey is referenced in the source.
Consumers who let an AI agent make purchases should check who their provider says is liable for unauthorized transactions before granting card access. The survey does not indicate what liability terms any specific agent provider currently offers.
The takeaway
Consumer trust in AI agents with payment access is currently low, and most respondents want the agent provider to bear fraud losses. Watch for whether agent platforms publish explicit liability terms in response to this sentiment.
Further reading
For broader context on how autonomous software is reshaping money movement, see Artificial Intelligence coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Bcrpub.
Live Poll
Would you trust an AI assistant to make a purchase with your credit card?
