Accenture: Italian shoppers are increasingly trusting AI agents

According to the Consumer Pulse 2026 study by Accenture, Italian consumers are no longer limiting themselves to consulting artificial intelligence agents, but are letting them decide and act on their behalf.

A question of trust

The research, presented in the report “Talk to my AI Agent”, which involved more than 25.590 consumers in 16 countries, reveals that 68% of Italians say they trust a personal AI agent more than their best friend to make a purchase on their behalf, highlighting the level of credibility these technologies have achieved. Globally, this trust reaches 74%, confirming an increasingly widespread trend. At the same time, 72% are willing to let an AI agent independently manage commercial activities such as negotiating offers, handling complaints, reordering products or renewing subscriptions, provided that consumers retain full control of the process.

Even greater autonomy

This willingness to delegate also extends to more advanced forms of autonomy. 26% of respondents say they would be willing to let the AI agent make the final purchasing decision before payment authorisation, while respecting predefined parameters such as price and preferences. Up to 8% would already allow the agent to complete the entire transaction autonomously. This is still a limited but significant proportion, indicating that the adoption of autonomous decision-making models is beginning to take concrete shape. Globally, these percentages are slightly higher (32% and 9%), indicating the growing spread of autonomous decision-making models.

A trend set to strengthen in the future: 60% of Italians expect at least 50% of spending in a given category to be influenced by artificial intelligence over the next 12 months. Globally, this share rises to 71%, indicating an even more significant impact on purchasing behaviour.

AI yes, but with the necessary safeguards

Openness to more autonomous AI agents depends to a large extent on the presence of safeguards and protection mechanisms. 23% of consumers say that a positive experience involving a low-risk purchase, such as reordering everyday goods, would make them more likely to rely on autonomous agents in the future. This evolution nevertheless requires specific conditions: data protection, configurable permissions, the possibility of immediate intervention and clear mechanisms for recourse. In this context, trust is no longer merely a reputational factor, but becomes an infrastructural component of the purchasing experience.

Brand loyalty is changing shape

One of the most significant signals to emerge from the research concerns the impact of AI agents on brand loyalty. On the one hand, more than half of consumers (51%) say they would tell the AI agent which brands to consider. On the other, an openness to change is emerging: among consumers who describe themselves as loyal, meaning those who habitually choose between one and three preferred brands, 42% would be willing to let the agent suggest an alternative brand if it identified a solution considered better.

The human factor remains decisive

Despite the growing centrality of AI, human moments continue to play a key role, albeit in a more selective and intentional form. 23% of consumers believe that shops will become even more relevant as spaces capable of generating moments of pleasure, while 24% attach value to face-to-face interactions for building trust. In addition, 52% want to remain involved in at least one stage of the purchasing journey, because they value the experience itself or feel an emotional connection with the brand.

A hybrid dynamic therefore emerges: AI tends to simplify and automate the more functional, repetitive or rational components of shopping, while the human channel continues to be fundamental for fostering trust, relationships, identity and emotional engagement. For brands and retailers, the challenge will therefore be to find an effective balance between technological efficiency and the quality of relationships.

The implications for brands and retailers

According to Accenture, this new scenario requires brands to respond rapidly and concretely, taking account of a market increasingly governed by agents. Brands must make their products, messages and claims easy for AI agents to interpret and verify, ensuring visibility at the points where these technologies search, compare and decide.

At the same time, they must build visibility and credibility among the channels where agents compare and decide. They must also ensure that brand promises correspond to the real experience: in an agent-governed market, consistency between claims and delivery is a decisive competitive factor.

“AI agents are becoming new intermediaries in commerce, and this is profoundly changing the rules of the game for brands and retailers. If, until last year, trust in agents represented a differentiating factor, today the real change is that this trust is becoming the foundation. Our survey shows that, in Italy too, consumers are increasingly ready to delegate activities and purchasing decisions to agents, but in return they demand transparency, control and reliability – said Andrea Ruzzi, consumer & manufacturing lead at Accenture Italy. “For companies, the challenge is therefore twofold: on the one hand, to make offers and messages easy for AI to read, credible and assessable; on the other, to invest even more in the human moments of the relationship, because that is where trust, identity and connection with the brand continue to be built”.

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.