Consumers now place more trust in leading AI tools than in social media platforms, newspapers, and major media outlets when making shopping decisions, according to a new global study from performance marketing firm RTB House. But when it comes to letting an AI agent actually spend their money, most want a human in the loop.
The study found Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT leading the trust rankings at 43% each among U.S. respondents, well ahead of Claude at 23% and Grok at 21%. AI tools outpaced influencers by 20 percentage points and Facebook and Instagram by 11 points each among U.S. consumers.
That trust has limits. Human approval before checkout was the most requested safeguard globally, cited by 35% of respondents, and by 44% of Baby Boomers. Spending caps, purchases restricted to trusted retailers, instant cancellation, and simple return policies rounded out the guardrails consumers want before handing an AI agent the keys to their wallet.
The generational divide is sharpest on delegation itself. Among U.S. Millennials, 42% said they would give an AI agent up to $250 to make a purchase on their behalf with a guaranteed seven-day return window, and 34% would do so even with no returns allowed. Just 22% of U.S. Boomers would delegate with return protection, falling to 11% without it.
The study also found AI is lengthening, not shortening, the path to purchase. Forty-two percent of U.S. consumers said AI tools increase the time it takes to reach a final decision by surfacing more brands and alternatives, an effect strongest among Gen Z at 48%. Meanwhile, 59% of U.S. consumers said AI helps them discover unfamiliar brands, with Gen X (61%) and Boomers (62%) among the most receptive.
For the ARM industry, the findings sketch a consumer who increasingly routes financial decisions through AI intermediaries but demands control at the moment money moves. If consumers extend that behavior from purchases to household bill management and debt resolution, collectors may eventually find themselves negotiating with a consumer’s AI agent rather than the consumer, subject to the same demands for approval steps, spending limits, and reversibility.
