AI that recommends a product is familiar. AI that chooses and pays for it raises a different question: exactly what did the customer authorise? Mastercard’s September research found that 27% of surveyed teenagers were likely to use a fully AI-run shopping assistant, compared with 16% of parents. The Opinium study covered 26,000 respondents across 13 markets, with fieldwork in June and July 2026. [1]

The same report includes futurists’ predictions about routine agent shopping by 2030. Those predictions describe a possible future; they are not a measurement of adoption today. The survey is also about stated intentions, rather than completed purchases.

For payment designers, a useful starting point is a permission screen that specifies budget, merchant restrictions and whether each purchase needs confirmation. Customers should be able to see what an agent bought and revoke its authority. Merchants, meanwhile, need clear product descriptions and cancellation terms. An automated checkout can be convenient, but its value depends on whether people can understand and control the decisions made with their money.