Six in ten UK shoppers would ditch AI agent after one slip

TL;DR:

• 60% of UK consumers would stop using an AI shopping agent after just one mistake, an ACI Worldwide survey of 2,080 adults found.
• Only 19% trust AI to follow rules for everyday purchases, against 55% who trust a human adviser.
• Most place responsibility on the AI provider when things go wrong — and 59% would trust no organisation to manage AI-powered shopping.

UK consumers are open to AI helping them shop, but their patience is wafer-thin. New research from payments firm ACI Worldwide, conducted by YouGov among 2,080 UK adults, finds six in ten would abandon an AI shopping agent after a single error — a low tolerance that points less to a capability gap than a trust one.

Help yes, control no

The survey shows a sharp drop-off as AI moves from assistant to decision-maker. Half of respondents trust AI to find the best price and 43% to stick to spending limits, but only 18% believe it would act in their best financial interest, and just 15% trust it to handle problems when something goes wrong. Seven in ten say purchases made without asking would put them off, and 61% balk at linking an agent to their bank account. Financial sweeteners barely move the needle: 44% would not trust an AI agent regardless of the savings on offer.

When errors occur, blame lands squarely on the technology provider — 54% say the company that built the agent should be accountable for refunds, against just 9% who blame the retailer. Strikingly, 59% would trust no organisation at all to run AI-powered shopping and payments.

The findings reinforce a consistent British pattern. Earlier surveys found UK shoppers embrace AI for prices but balk at payments and want buying help but distrust paid results. What ACI adds is the dimension of error-intolerance and accountability: shoppers are not just cautious about handing over money, they expect a clear party to answer when an agent gets it wrong.

Looking forward

ACI’s Adriana Iordan argues adoption depends on “control over capability” — explicit approvals, hard spending limits, protected payment details and clear accountability. For UK retailers and payment providers racing to push agentic commerce towards checkout, the data is a warning: a single visible failure could undo months of adoption, and no brand can assume it inherits trust by default.