Few US Shoppers Trust AI Agents With Payments

A Talkdesk survey shows consumer willingness lags retailer plans for AI agents that complete purchases on shoppers' behalf.

Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence

Bold flat-color vector editorial illustration of a single coral piggy bank centered on a teal field, evoking consumer hesitation about letting AI shopping agents spend money. — A Talkdesk survey found only 15% of US consumers would let an AI agent make purchases with their payment information, even with the chance to review its actions first. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Would you let an AI assistant make purchases using your payment information?

A Talkdesk survey fielded over the Halloween weekend found 15% of US consumers would let an AI agent make purchases using their payment information, even with the chance to review its actions first. The finding is survey-based and reflects stated willingness, not completed transactions, so AI purchasing agents remain a research and deployment question rather than a settled consumer behavior.

Why it matters

The gap between retailers' plans and shoppers' comfort points to where agentic commerce is heading: 89% of retail leaders say they have optimised for, or are planning or testing, AI agents that complete purchases. Consumer reluctance, which the survey ties partly to concerns about sharing personal information with AI tools, will likely determine how fast that capability reaches checkout.

The survey measures stated willingness rather than observed behavior, so the 15% figure describes intent under a review-first condition. Retail leaders' 89% figure covers optimisation, planning, and testing, which spans very different levels of deployment.

The players

Talkdesk

A cloud contact-center software company that fields customer-experience research and sells AI-enabled customer service tools.

Uber

The ride-hailing and delivery platform whose New York City AI chatbot drew only four users over Halloween.

Pick n Pay

South African grocery retailer that launched an AI-powered assistant for building orders by voice, text, or photo.

The details

AI shopping agents are software systems that act on a user's behalf, such as searching for products and completing checkout with stored payment details. The survey found consumers used AI tools to hunt for deals and research gift ideas, but stopped short of handing over final control of purchases. Pick n Pay, the South African grocery retailer, has launched an AI assistant that helps customers build orders by voice, text, or photo, illustrating the front-end task the agents are meant to absorb.

Survey fielded over the Halloween weekend, October 31, 2026.
Article reporting the results published November 5, 2026.

The Tech Race

Pick n Pay's assistant shows retailers moving to put AI at the front of the shopping funnel, with order-building and recommendations. The survey suggests the race to let agents complete purchases is ahead of consumer willingness to grant them payment access.

Shoppers can already use AI tools to research gifts and hunt for deals, but the survey indicates most are not ready to let those tools complete purchases. Users who want that capability should expect review-before-purchase controls, since that is the condition under which 15% said they would participate.

The takeaway

Watch whether consumer comfort with agent-led checkout rises as review controls and payment safeguards mature over the next holiday season. The 15% figure from Talkdesk's survey is a baseline to compare against future surveys from the same research line.