TLDR:
More than one in three Americans bought products based on AI recommendations over the past year.
Around 42% of respondents do not trust AI to make purchases on their behalf.
Cloudflare data shows forbidden responses affecting agents and bots have roughly doubled since summer.
AI increasingly assists product research, while consumers retain control over final purchasing decisions.
More than one in three Americans bought something based on an AI recommendation over the past year, according to research shared by a16z. However, growing consumer interest in AI-assisted shopping has not translated into widespread trust in autonomous purchases.
Around 25% of respondents said they would feel comfortable letting AI buy various consumer goods, excluding luxury products. Meanwhile, 42% said they would not trust AI to make purchases on their behalf.
Data from Cloudflare also shows that agents and bots face more restrictions online, with their share of HTTP 403 “Forbidden” responses roughly doubling since the summer.
These figures expose a central challenge for agentic commerce: AI can help consumers compare products, but handing over purchasing decisions remains difficult.
Retailers also face concerns about fraud, returns, advertising revenue, and losing direct relationships with customers.
AI Shopping Agents Face Growing Retailer Resistance
Agentic commerce allows AI systems to perform shopping tasks on behalf of consumers, potentially including product selection and checkout. However, some major retailers have restricted automated agents from accessing their platforms.
According to a16z, Cloudflare data shows a growing share of forbidden responses affecting agents and bots. The trend suggests increasing friction between automated shopping tools and websites, although the data does not establish agentic commerce as the sole cause.
Retailers have financial reasons to resist this shift.
Shopping platforms depend on customer visits, advertising exposure, and direct relationships that autonomous agents could weaken. If consumers purchase through AI intermediaries, retailers may lose valuable opportunities to influence decisions.
Fraud and returns create additional complications.
Data from the National Retail Federation shows return rates and total return costs have roughly doubled and tripled, respectively, since 2019. Retailers may worry that automated purchasing could increase mistaken orders and disputes over transactions.
These concerns leave AI shopping agents facing both technical restrictions and commercial resistance. Better safeguards could help, but consumers must also trust agents to spend their money correctly.
More than 1 in 3 Americans bought something based on an AI recommendation in the past year
44% say AI helps them find better value for money
34% would pay more for a product if AI showed it was the best option for them
Charts of the Week: https://t.co/mdb37dD2sk pic.twitter.com/AUVnx49tGV
— a16z (@a16z) October 16, 2026
AI Recommendations Gain Ground, but Human Checkout Persists
Consumer behavior suggests AI currently plays a stronger role in product research than final purchasing.
According to a16z, 44% of Americans say AI helps them find better value for money. Another 34% would pay more for a product if AI identified it as their best option.
This willingness to use AI for recommendations contrasts with reluctance to authorize purchases.
Similarweb clickstream data cited by a16z suggests shopping journeys increasingly include AI before checkout. However, most AI shopping sessions remain in the middle of the purchasing process, between product discovery and payment.
That distinction matters for businesses measuring advertising effectiveness. When AI influences research but consumers complete purchases later, identifying which recommendation drove a sale becomes harder.
The cited Similarweb data only runs through June, so current behavior may differ.
Social commerce presents another challenge for autonomous shopping. Marketplace Pulse data shows the top 1% of TikTok Shop sellers generate roughly 60% of sales. Meanwhile, 8.4% of sellers producing at least 1,000 videos capture around 60% of overall sales.
These figures show how human-facing content can drive commerce at scale. AI agents may streamline product comparisons, but replacing discovery, persuasion, and personal preferences presents a different challenge.
For now, the evidence points to a gradual transition rather than fully automated shopping. AI recommendations are gaining consumer acceptance, but retailer restrictions and purchasing concerns continue to limit agentic commerce.
The post AI Shopping Agents Face Trust Barriers as Retailers Block Bots: Research appeared first on Blockonomi .
