Would you trust your teenager to take $25 from your wallet, and go into a store to pick out something for their aunt’s birthday? Now: Would you have MORE or LESS faith in A.I.?
A new survey asked: “If you were using an A.I. agent to shop for you, how much would you be comfortable with it spending, without your final approval?”
20% of people say they WOULD be cool with A.I. shopping and making final decisions. 10% say they’d be willing to let the A.I. agent spend $25 or more, and another 10% say they’d let the A.I. buy stuff, but only things under $25.
24% say they’d let an A.I. agent shop for them, but they would need to make ALL final decisions, so no money is spent without their approval.
And 56% say they won’t let an A.I. agent shop for them at all.
Those percentages were similar across all ages. Millennials were SLIGHTLY more willing to let A.I. spend their money, while Boomers were slightly less likely.
The survey didn’t ask how many of these people have already tried using A.I. chatbots to help them research and recommend products. But there’s a good chance that the people who have had POSITIVE experiences with that have MORE trust in A.I. agents shopping for them.
People who haven’t tried it, or had NEGATIVE experiences were probably less trusting. Like, asking A.I. for a Mother’s Day gift idea, and being told to get a “World’s Okayest Mom” mug, and slip a $10 coffee gift card inside it.
(YouGov)
