Consumers Want AI to Shop With Them, Not for Them

Artificial intelligence has already transformed how consumers discover products, compare prices, and navigate digital commerce. But as companies race to build autonomous AI agents capable of making decisions independently, consumers are sending a more nuanced message: They want assistance, not surrender.

New research from PYMNTS Intelligence’s latest May 2026 Consumer AI Benchmark reveals that while consumers are embracing AI-enabled commerce tools, most remain reluctant to hand over final decision-making authority in higher-stakes situations. Tasks involving discovery, comparison shopping and information gathering emerged as natural fits for AI. Areas involving payments, financial commitments and irreversible decisions, however, continued to trigger greater demand for human oversight.

The findings suggest that the next phase of AI adoption will depend less on the sophistication of the technology itself and more on whether businesses can calibrate the balance between automation and human control.

Agentic Commerce Reality Check

None of the report’s findings suggest that consumers are rejecting AI. Adoption continues to accelerate across industries and demographics. What appears likely, however, is that consumers will embrace AI unevenly, granting authority selectively rather than universally.

That creates a more complicated future than many technology companies initially envisioned. Silicon Valley’s prevailing assumption has been that consumers ultimately want AI systems capable of independently booking travel, purchasing products, managing finances, and executing everyday decisions with minimal human oversight.

But the PYMNTS Intelligence research found, among those surveyed, that consumers are far more receptive to AI functioning as a collaborative layer than as a replacement for human agency. Product recommendations, deal comparisons, shopping organization, and personalized discovery all rank high in consumer comfort levels. These are areas where AI enhances efficiency while leaving the user in control.

That distinction is critical because recommendation-based AI aligns with how consumers already behave online. Digital commerce has long depended on algorithmic guidance, from Netflix suggestions to Amazon product rankings. Consumers have spent years training themselves to accept machine-assisted curation. But autonomous execution introduces a fundamentally different psychological threshold.

Allowing software to independently select and purchase products, move money, or make financial decisions triggers concerns around accountability, transparency, and trust. Even highly accurate systems can feel intrusive when consumers perceive they are losing visibility into the decision-making process.

Read the report: The New AI Handshake: Data Shows When Consumers Want Help and When They Want Control

Why Friction May Become Valuable Again

Ironically, the AI economy may be forcing businesses to reconsider a concept the digital era spent decades trying to eliminate: friction. For years, the dominant goal in commerce was seamlessness. One-click checkout, automated renewals, invisible payments, and predictive fulfillment all aimed to reduce the number of decisions consumers had to actively make.

AI introduces a paradox. Complete frictionlessness can start to feel unsettling when autonomous systems are involved. Consumers may actually want strategic pauses inserted into AI-driven experiences, such as confirmation screens, recommendation explanations, approval checkpoints, or opportunities to override automated actions.

The risk is not simply missing the AI wave. It is losing direct customer relationships to external AI platforms capable of mediating decisions upstream. But consumers may not want dozens of fragmented branded assistants. Many appear more comfortable interacting with centralized, general-purpose AI systems that feel more familiar and broadly capable.

Consumers are clearly signaling that they want AI woven into everyday life. They appreciate speed, personalization and intelligent assistance. But they are also establishing boundaries around where human judgment still matters. The path toward autonomous commerce may not unfold as a rapid handoff from humans to machines. It may instead evolve into a prolonged negotiation over visibility, oversight and control.

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