Research and deal-finding lead adoption
Visa published US consumer research on 30 October showing that 54% of surveyed adults had used AI for at least one shopping task. Respondents were most comfortable using it to compare prices, check product availability, find discounts and suggest gifts. Visa commissioned Morning Consult to survey 1,016 US adults online between 26 September and 2 October; results were weighted to the adult population and carry a stated margin of error of three percentage points.
Payment trust remains the constraint
Visa contrasted broad interest in AI assistance with a separate Trust Index finding that only 23% of US consumers trust generative AI to handle payment transactions on their behalf. The holiday survey also found that three in ten respondents expect to buy from an overseas seller, while three-quarters reported changing shopping behaviour because of fraud concerns. As with any commissioned survey, stated intentions are not transaction data. Still, the gap between discovery and delegated payment suggests merchants may see more AI-referred traffic before they see autonomous checkout at scale.
What it means for merchants
Merchants should keep product availability, prices and delivery terms machine-readable, but preserve clear human confirmation, recognised payment authentication and fraud controls when an AI assistant moves from recommendation to purchase.
Read the original announcement
Visa · 30 Oct 2026This brief summarizes the linked primary source. Claims and reported figures have not been independently audited by Payment Guide.