Wanting control (60.3%) edges out fraud fears (56.2%) as the top reason U.S. AI shoppers limit agent payment access

Buyer behaviour

Reason for limiting or refusing payment access	Share (%)
I want control over what it buys	60.3%
Fraud or security worries	56.2%
It might make expensive mistakes	38.8%
I do not trust the company that built it	24%
I do not trust the shops it would buy from	23.6%

Reasons given for limiting or refusing AI payment access

Reader Note:: Among 550 U.S. shoppers who used AI for product research in the past 90 days, 43.1% would not give an AI agent access to a payment method, 37.1% would with limits, and 19.8% without limits. The 441 who refuse or limit access chose their reasons (more than one allowed, so shares exceed 100%): want control over what it buys 60.3%, fraud or security worries 56.2%, it might make expensive mistakes 38.8%, don't trust the company that built it 24.0%, don't trust the shops it would buy from 23.6%. If an agent bought the wrong thing, 45.8% would blame themselves and 44.7% the agent's maker. Self-reported online survey of U.S. adults (Aug 27 – Sep 1, 2026), unweighted; Product.ai sells verification products for commerce.
Evidence:: Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:: High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Survey of 1,493 U.S. adults who shop for products, online or in stores, from a general-population panel; unweighted with quotas on age, gender, and region. Trend comparisons use 1,247 online shoppers; AI-user findings mostly use 550 respondents who used AI for product research in the past 90 days.

Good for

A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
This was measured in one market. It may not hold where you are.
This is an aggregated or average number that covers very different cases. Real results in a particular segment may differ.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.

Gemini and ChatGPT lead AI shopping research in the U.S.; 64.0% of AI shoppers use two or more assistants

Share of AI shoppers using each AI assistant in the past 90 days
Assistant used in the past 90 days	Share of AI users (%)
Google Gemini	63.5%
ChatGPT	60%
Amazon's shopping assistant	27.5%
Walmart's shopping assistant	22.5%
Microsoft Copilot	22.4%

89.9%

of AI users on the online-shopper trend base said they verified the assistant’s recommendation before buying

60%–90%

of consumers’ value perception was explained by price perception across multiple subsectors in Deloitte’s regression analysis

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

38%

adoption increase in older populations after Dubai Smart ID used a calming tone and simpler biometric explanations in 2021

Only 36% of Gen Z call themselves price-conscious, vs 40% of Millennials, 45% of Gen X and 55% of Boomers

Share of each generation who describe themselves as price-conscious
Generation	Share who describe themselves as price-conscious (%)
Gen Z	36%
Millennials	40%
Gen X	45%
Baby Boomers	55%

86% of both Gen Z and Millennials say a smartphone is their most important device