Durham, N.C. – September 30, 2026 -- Sixty-three percent of U.S. adults said they would or might let an AI shopping assistant choose brands on their behalf if it consistently saved them 20% on purchases, according to a nationwide survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Talker Research on behalf of payments platform Spreedly.
The findings arrive as AI shopping agents, including Meta's newly launched Muse, expand from product discovery into checkout, intensifying scrutiny over how much purchasing authority consumers will cede to automated systems.
Younger consumers show the weakest brand loyalty against AI-driven savings
Thirty-four percent of Gen Z and 30% of Millennials said they would abandon brand loyalty if an AI assistant consistently found the best products at the lowest prices. Among parents with children under five, 60% said they would let AI select brands for a consistent 20% savings.
Product research habits are shifting alongside these preferences. While Google Search remains the most trusted source overall at 25%, followed by friends and family at 22%, 31% of Gen Z respondents named ChatGPT as their most trusted source for product research, versus 12% for Google Search among that group.
Consumers delegate brand choice but withhold financial control
Despite openness to AI-driven brand selection, 43% of respondents said they would still insist on deciding how much to spend, and 41% would retain control over which payment method is used. Only 20% would allow an AI assistant to spend money without approval, while 64% said they would not permit autonomous spending at all. An additional 16% would allow autonomous spending only for small purchases.
Access to payment credentials faces similar resistance: just 19% would grant an AI shopping assistant direct payment access in exchange for a guaranteed lowest price, while 58% said no.
"Consumers may increasingly rely on an agent to decide which brand wins the purchase, but they still expect control when money moves," said Justin Benson, CEO of Spreedly. "That changes the transaction environment for merchants."
Fraud fears outweigh convenience in blocking autonomous purchases
Fifty-two percent of respondents cited fear of fraud as a barrier to allowing AI to complete purchases, ahead of lack of trust in AI companies (45%) and fear of overspending (40%). When something goes wrong with an AI-selected purchase, 41% said they would primarily hold the AI company responsible, compared with 13% who would blame the retailer and 6% the payment provider.
No single provider has established dominant consumer trust in this space. Google led potential AI shopping providers at just 13%, followed by PayPal at 11%, and Amazon and Walmart tied at 10% each.
The survey was administered online by Talker Research between September 3 and September 8, 2026, on behalf of Spreedly, a payments vault and orchestration platform that processes more than $60 billion in annual gross merchandise value for over 400 customers across more than 100 countries.