Survey: 63% of Americans open to letting AI choose brands for 20% savings

Brand loyalty may be one of the first casualties of agentic commerce, but consumers draw a much harder line when AI gets control of their money

DURHAM, N.C., Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A nationwide survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Spreedly (www.spreedly.com) found that 63% would or might allow an AI shopping assistant to choose brands for them if it consistently saved them 20% on purchases.

The findings come as AI shopping agents such as Meta's new Muse move from product discovery into checkout, raising new questions about how much purchasing control consumers are willing to hand to AI. The survey suggests the relationship between consumers and brands could change significantly as AI becomes more involved in purchasing decisions.

Brand loyalty appears especially vulnerable among younger consumers. Thirty-four percent of Gen Z and 30% of Millennials said they would give up 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 allow AI to choose brands if doing so consistently saved them 20%.

The shift is also visible in product research. Across all respondents, Google Search remains the most trusted source at 25%, followed by friends and family at 22%. Among Gen Z, however, 31% selected ChatGPT as the source they trust most for product research, compared with 12% for Google Search. ChatGPT also ranked ahead of friends and family, online reviews, and retailer websites among Gen Z respondents.

"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."

Consumers will delegate choice before control

Even when AI saves consumers money, 43% say 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 shopping assistant to spend money without approval, while another 16% would permit autonomous spending only for small purchases. Nearly two-thirds (64%) would not allow AI to spend without approval.

Consumers are also hesitant to give agents direct access to payment information. Only 19% would allow an AI shopping assistant access in exchange for a guarantee of the lowest price available online, while 23% said maybe and 58% said no.

Fraud remains the biggest barrier to autonomous shopping

More than half of respondents (52%) cited fear of fraud as something that would prevent them from allowing AI to complete a purchase, followed by lack of trust in AI companies (45%) and fear of overspending (40%).

Consumers also place responsibility primarily on AI providers. If an AI assistant selected a product and something went wrong, 41% said they would primarily hold the AI company responsible, compared with 13% who would blame the retailer and 6% the payment provider.

No company has established a dominant position in consumer trust. Google ranked first among potential AI shopping providers at just 13%, followed by PayPal at 11%, Amazon at 10%, and Walmart at 10%.

View the full State of Checkout 2026 report and analysis here.

About the Research

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 general population Americans who have access to the internet; the survey was commissioned by Spreedly and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between September 3 and September 8, 2026. To view the complete methodology as part of AAPOR's Transparency Initiative, please visit the Talker Research Process and Methodology page.

About Spreedly

Spreedly (www.spreedly.com) is a payments vault and orchestration platform that organizations use to own their payment tokens, connect to any payment or fraud provider, and route transactions for AI-driven commerce, including agentic commerce. The company is trusted by major brands including CLEAR, Hopper, Lemonade, Getty, Warner, The New York Times, and Priceline. Spreedly processes more than $60 billion in annual gross merchandise value on behalf of more than 400 customers across more than 100 countries.

Media contact:

Olya Orda
[email protected]

SOURCE Spreedly