The news: US consumers are willing to let AI influence purchase decisions, but they’re not yet ready to hand over control of shopping and buying.

Nearly half (47%) of US adults trust AI for price comparisons, and 44% are comfortable using it to find deals, per ESW’s 2026 Signals report. However, only 24% are comfortable with AI-powered payments.

Despite interest in AI for product research, just 22% say they’re likely to use conversational AI for shopping. That number rises to 34% for millennials and 29% for Gen Zers, and drops to 8% for baby boomers.

What it means: Agentic commerce is likely to evolve in phases and currently serves as a personal helper rather than a fully trusted end-to-end solution. Consumer oversight remains a core part of the shopping journey, with 86% of US online shoppers verifying AI recommendations via reviews and searches before making a purchase, per Product.ai.

The data also indicates that visibility within AI recommendations could be as important as visibility within traditional search. However, if consumers are using AI for discovery alone, success may depend less on capturing clicks inside AI and more on supplying clear and relevant brand information, product data, and real customer reviews for content that AI engines cite.

Recommendations for brands: Focus on developing on-site offerings that match where customer trust currently lies instead of expecting AI-powered checkout or purchasing agents to meaningfully affect conversion.

• Develop AI-powered discovery tools that use shopping and browsing activity to surface similar products and item comparisons.
• Offer personalized deal recommendations such as AI-curated bundles.
• Set up early-stage AI customer service tools that can triage issues and offer quick solutions, with easy access to a real human when users want.

Brands should center their internal efforts on building AI experiences that save consumers time without requiring them to surrender control. Demonstrating clear utility during users’ AI research and comparison processes will likely build the trust needed to expand into payments and autonomous purchasing later.

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