74% of Shoppers Will Use AI Assistants. Only 15% Will Let an Agent Pay.

In Talkdesk’s survey of 1,048 U.S. holiday shoppers, 74% plan to shop with AI assistants this season, but just 15% would let an agent buy with their payment details, even after reviewing the order.

Without that review, the share falls to 10%. The confirmation step is the checkout decision that moves the number: by The Denominator’s arithmetic, letting shoppers check the order before they pay lifts the willing share by half. Even with the review, the other 85% of shoppers in the survey did not say they would hand an agent their payment details.

What are retailers building, and what breaks?

Centiment ran the survey in September for Talkdesk, which sells AI agents that automate customer service. Of the 312 retail leaders it reached, nearly nine in 10 are preparing for agents that shop on a customer’s behalf, and 93% will put AI agents on customer service this season.

Those service agents will work on customer accounts, where retailers already report mistakes. In the past 12 months, 31% said an AI tool took a wrong action on a customer’s account, such as an improper refund. Of the 58% that reported any AI error, 29% lost a customer over it. Still, 51% of retailers planning service agents will hand them returns, refunds or exchanges, the same kind of work as an improper refund.

Where do shoppers draw the line?

Shoppers want AI for the search, not the purchase. Beyond the 74% planning to use assistants, 49% of shoppers would buy from a brand they did not know on an AI recommendation. They also want to be told: 77% want AI’s role in their shopping made known, and 37% of retailers fall short of full disclosure.

“We are still a long way from most consumers letting an AI agent purchase on their behalf, especially for high-consideration goods,” said Michael Klein, who heads product marketing for retail, travel and hospitality at Talkdesk.

Shoppers who want stronger rules on AI cite personal data collected without permission (55%), paid product placement (41%) and prices that vary from one shopper to the next (41%). Talkdesk did not say how many of those shoppers are among the 85% who stopped short of letting an agent pay.

Does a second survey agree?

Accenture’s annual holiday survey of 4,048 U.S. shoppers asked the question another way and found the same pattern. With shoppers keeping the final say on payment, 22% would let an agent decide what to buy; 8% would let it buy on its own within limits they set.

The levels differ, but neither survey puts fully autonomous buying above 10%. In both, the share climbs once the shopper confirms the payment.

The test for a retailer building agent checkout: does every agent order stop for the shopper’s confirmation before the payment goes through?