By Andrew Miller
Consumers trust AI to recommend a product.
However, they don’t trust it enough to hand over their credit card.
In VML’s Future Shopper 2026 report, built on a survey of 28,000 people across 17 countries, 82% of consumers said they have used AI. Some use it for work, image generation, or general research.
When it comes to shopping, AI has settled into one job: the advisor. Nearly half of shoppers say an AI recommendation has changed which brands they consider.
Handing it the credit card is where they stop. More than half, 58%, check an AI’s product recommendation against another source before buying. A third say they would not let AI make a purchase for them at all.
So far, AI is trusted to suggest, not to decide. That restraint lines up with tighter budgeting among consumers.
Nearly six in ten say they are more worried about their finances than ever, while 72% say price matters more to them than it used to. VML calls the shift a pragmatism pivot, with shoppers choosing reliability and price over newer features.
Someone watching their money so closely is in no hurry to trust AI with the final call on what they buy. For most products, the technology is used to compare options.
So-called agentic commerce, where AI shops and buys on its own, is starting to show up in low-risk, repeat categories like groceries and household goods. There, a wrong guess costs little.
As for bigger purchases than potatoes or the right ply toilet paper, consumers prefer to be the final decision maker.
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