{"id":31455,"date":"2026-05-07T20:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/31455\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T20:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:20:09","slug":"survey-shows-many-consumers-distrust-agentic-ai-but-use-it-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/31455\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey Shows Many Consumers Distrust Agentic AI But Use It Anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent Riskified survey<\/a> revealed that a sizable gap exists between consumers\u2019 trust in AI and their actual usage of these tools.<\/p>\n

Despite 53.9% of consumers believing AI can increase their fraud risk and 55% expressing discomfort regarding AI agents making purchases on their behalf, 61.5% have used AI tools at some point along the shopping journey nevertheless.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s driving this gap?<\/p>\n

Bob Hutchins, CEO at Human Voice Media, drew parallels between AI and past technological advancements.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many of the same reasons people began to use GPS (and thus allowed tracking), they will begin to use AI. The tool works. The benefits show themselves sooner than the potential risks become an active barrier to adopting new behaviors. This same trend is evident in online banking, social login, autofill, and cell phone location sharing,\u201d Hutchins told FI.<\/p>\n

However, he also highlighted an important distinction between AI and the other tools: It can act on your behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou operated the internet. AI interacts with you, and occasionally for you. That alters how we think about trust. You\u2019re giving away a little bit of control; you\u2019re also providing a little bit of your data,\u201d Hutchins explained.<\/p>\n

Yad Senapathy, CEO and founder of PMTI, an institute that\u2019s trained 80,000-plus professionals on best practices for organizations adopting new processes, believes the gap between consumer trust and adoption of AI is more about risk evaluation than confusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople use AI tools when the risk of using them is manageable. For instance, when you search for product recommendations, there is very little risk involved. On the other hand, when you allow your AI agent to order something using your credit card, that is a much larger decision,\u201d Senapathy told FI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where the gap lies: 61.5% of people have used AI at some point in their shopping journey. However, only 55% of people are willing to allow AI to make purchasing decisions on their behalf. This is not contradictory; this is rational human behavior,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

So, is there any legitimacy to the fraud concerns?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Does Agentic AI Actually Increase Fraud Risk?<\/p>\n

Eric Lam, CEO of Berry AI, told FI that, while fraud risk is a legitimate issue associated with agentic AI, consumers\u2019 worries about it are often misdirected, as AI doesn\u2019t inherently increase fraud risk but changes how it occurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFraudsters can create more convincing phishing attempts, automate account takeovers, or mimic legitimate behavior at scale. But it\u2019s also one of the most powerful tools we have to detect and prevent fraud and loss,\u201d Lam explained.<\/p>\n

Pavel Sirotin, VP of partnerships at Newo.ai, pointed out that AI is merely a tool and therefore has the capacity to scale both good and bad behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, structured systems can reduce risk by applying rules consistently and validating inputs in real time. What people are reacting to is the unevenness. Experiences vary widely depending on how the system is built,\u201d Sirotin told FI.<\/p>\n

Hutchins zeroed in on some specific ways AI can be used for fraudulent purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoice cloning exists today. There\u2019s measurable evidence of improved AI-generated phishing. Synthetic identity fraud is increasing, and deep fake videos have reached consumer-level quality through free tools,\u201d Hutchins told FI.<\/p>\n

Patrick Gibbs, founder of AI automation agency Epiphany Dynamics LLC, added that, though the fraud-related fears are partially legitimate, they\u2019re often \u201cmis-framed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fraud vector that scales with AI is not \u2018AI buying things on consumers\u2019 behalf.\u2019 It is voice cloning and conversational social engineering,\u201d Gibbs told FI.<\/p>\n

So, what are some ways brands leveraging agentic AI can build trust with their customer base?<\/p>\n

Best Practices for Building Trust in Agentic AI<\/p>\n

Lam recommends cultivating trust in AI through outcomes over messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mistake brands make is trying to convince users to trust the technology instead of letting the experience prove itself,\u201d Lam told FI.<\/p>\n

That said, at least some messaging must occur regarding AI tools. Hutchins stressed the importance of authenticity and accuracy in communications, as brands that oversell their products are typically the ones that rapidly lose trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunicate clearly what occurs beneath the hood. Use clear language when describing what data enters and exits and what data is stored,\u201d Hutchins advised.<\/p>\n

Matt Little, founder and managing director of Festoon House, has developed an e-commerce brand using AI-driven marketing, paid media, and performance funnels and agrees that transparency is key.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most successful consumer-facing brands deploying AI tools are doing so transparently. Consumers know they\u2019re using AI, understand how the tools are being used, and can easily override it,\u201d Little told FI, adding that another effective method is a gradual opt-in to the technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBegin with low-risk interactions that allow consumers to remain in control and gradually expand use to higher-risk interactions,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n

Little shared that when his company started providing AI-based product recommendations using a \u201csuggested for you\u201d label instead of a default selection, the return rate increased by 23.4% over the next quarter.<\/p>\n

Lam added that skepticism often increases when people feel like a platform\u2019s incentives aren\u2019t aligned with their best interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf AI tools become overly commercialized or start prioritizing paid outcomes over useful ones, trust will erode quickly,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The Food Institute Podcast<\/p>\n

This episode features Julie Chapon, CEO and co-founder of Yuka, the fast-growing app that helps consumers better understand the health impact of food and cosmetic products. Chapon shares the origin story of Yuka, which began as a personal mission to decode confusing food labels and has since expanded into a global platform with over 80 million users.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A recent Riskified survey revealed that a sizable gap exists between consumers\u2019 trust in AI and their actual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[179,7493,521,405,1428,20231,20232,20233,20234,25,20235,20236,20237,20238,20239,7129,20240,313,2657,1620,5329,20241,20242,20243,2162,223,20244,20245,20246,1424,20247,20248,5026,20249,20250,20251,3990,20252,20253,7461,20254],"class_list":{"0":"post-31455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agentic-ai","8":"tag-agentic-ai","9":"tag-agentic-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-ai-adoption","11":"tag-ai-agents","12":"tag-ai-ethics","13":"tag-ai-fraud-risk","14":"tag-ai-shopping","15":"tag-ai-trust-gap","16":"tag-ai-powered-shopping","17":"tag-artificial-intelligence","18":"tag-berry-ai","19":"tag-bob-hutchins","20":"tag-consumer-behavior","21":"tag-consumer-data-privacy","22":"tag-consumer-trust","23":"tag-conversational-ai","24":"tag-customer-trust","25":"tag-cybersecurity","26":"tag-deepfakes","27":"tag-digital-commerce","28":"tag-e-commerce","29":"tag-epiphany-dynamics-llc","30":"tag-eric-lam","31":"tag-festoon-house","32":"tag-fraud-prevention","33":"tag-generative-ai","34":"tag-human-voice-media","35":"tag-matt-little","36":"tag-newo-ai","37":"tag-online-shopping","38":"tag-patrick-gibbs","39":"tag-pavel-sirotin","40":"tag-personalization","41":"tag-phishing-scams","42":"tag-pmti","43":"tag-retail-innovation","44":"tag-retail-technology","45":"tag-shopping-trends","46":"tag-synthetic-identity-fraud","47":"tag-voice-cloning","48":"tag-yad-senapathy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}