Artificial intelligence is quietly reshaping how consumers shop, but the adoption curve looks nothing like the futuristic visions many brands have been pitching. A new 57-page report from enterprise commerce media platform Koddi, tracking agentic AI use across the U.S., U.K. and Germany, reveals a marketplace that is moving forward with deliberate caution rather than enthusiastic surrender. The findings suggest shoppers are not rejecting AI assistance outright — they are simply demanding strict boundaries on where and how it gets deployed. Main Developments Consumers overwhelmingly prefer AI to serve as a supportive guide rather than an autonomous decision-maker. Seventy-two percent of those polled said they want AI to function as a co-pilot, not a full autopilot, according to the report. This preference signals a fundamental shift in how shoppers envision interacting with intelligent systems during their purchasing journeys. The research identifies a pattern researchers call "conditional acceptance" — an openness to AI assistance that comes with firm guardrails. Shoppers are most comfortable deploying AI agents in retail, travel, groceries and tech, sectors where decisions feel familiar and reversible. Conversely, comfort levels drop sharply in banking, investments, healthcare and medication, where mistakes carry significant consequences and correction paths are complicated. Read also: 5 Bold Moves in Wrangler's Fall 2026 Lainey Wilson Drop Trust emerges as the organizing principle behind acceptance, and it is "explicitly procedural rather than emotional" in nature. Users do not extend confidence to AI by default; they demand concrete safeguards including secure data handling, human checks for high-value decisions, and the ability to undo, cancel, review and change choices. The aversion to opaque commercial influence is particularly strong, with paid placement style nudges eroding trust more than many consumers initially expect. Background This cautious embrace arrives as the commerce landscape undergoes rapid technological transformation. The report arrives amid broader industry movement toward agentic AI — systems that can independently execute tasks rather than merely suggest options. Earlier this month, Sourcing Journal reported on Cloudflare Inc. and Onton, two solution providers that rolled out technology specifically addressing consumer trust issues around financial transactions and personal data protection. The research captures a transitional moment in which AI is advancing from embedded assistance toward more active decisioning. Consumers have grown accustomed to recommendation algorithms and search filters, but the leap to autonomous purchasing decisions represents a fundamentally different relationship with technology. The report suggests the market has not yet settled on where the most promising opportunities lie — whether in onsite environments, large language model experiences, or combined architectures. Why It Matters For retailers and brands, the implications are immediate and operational. The path to winning consumer trust will not come from louder claims about autonomy, but from designing permissioned delegation into the shopping journey itself. The study points to a fundamental shift in what "value" means in commerce media, moving attention away from placements and impressions toward access, influence and measurable outcomes. Brands must rethink how they earn inclusion in the decision-making process itself — whether that inclusion stems from relevance, price, reliability or clearly labeled sponsorship. Visibility alone is losing its edge as consumers become more discerning about commercial influence. Even where monetization is not rejected outright, it must be clearly disclosed, because the biggest trust reducers are actions taken without approval and unclear use of personal data. The research suggests where competitive advantage is likely to form over the next 12–18 months as the market shifts from surfaces to systems. Advertisers are already investing at scale to test agentic capabilities, but they have not fully determined the optimal deployment strategy. The most successful players will treat governance as product design, building "reversible pathways" and maintaining human oversight for consequential choices while disclosing when commercial incentives are at work. What's Next Consumers want value before vision, according to the report's authors, and brands that operationalize transparency and control are most likely to convert agentic momentum into durable demand. The next year will likely bring increased experimentation as advertisers test different approaches to integrating AI agents into the shopping experience, with particular attention to how disclosure and control mechanisms affect consumer confidence. The open question remains how quickly the industry will standardize around governance practices that satisfy consumer demands for reversibility and transparency. As AI agents b