Shoppers are cautious about AI, but confident when it has a job to do

New Sinch research reveals where shoppers trust AI, where they remain cautious, and which practical use cases could shape holiday shopping in 2026.

Stockholm - September 15, 2026 - New research from Sinch AB (publ), shows a nuanced picture of shoppers’ attitudes to AI ahead of Black Friday and the holiday season: broader concerns remain, while confidence is high when AI is used for specific, practical tasks. Among 2,501 consumers across eight markets, only 43% think AI will make their holiday shopping easier this year, down from 48% in 2025. Privacy remains shoppers’ top reservation about AI for the second year running, cited by 43%, and just 7% say they have no concerns about it at all.

That caution does not carry over once the task is specific. 81% of shoppers say they are confident an AI assistant can handle order tracking and shipping updates, while 74% say the same for pre-purchase questions.  Confidence is lower, but still substantial, for account changes (66%) and payment or billing changes (62%).

Shoppers are also open to interacting with AI. Of the 2,501 people surveyed, only one said they would never want to interact with an AI chatbot under any circumstance. The most popular use cases were order tracking (48%), researching a product before buying (47%), and getting customer service (36%).

“AI for AI’s sake doesn’t land with shoppers, but AI attached to a job they actually want done does. Order tracking and pre-purchase questions are the easy wins, where confidence is already high. Payment, billing and account changes are different: shoppers still want a human close by, and brands need to make that handoff easy and obvious,” said Robert Gerstmann, Chief Evangelist and Co-Founder of Sinch.

Trust follows a similar split when AI gives advice rather than just information. 53% of shoppers trust a real person’s product recommendation over AI’s, while 47% trust AI just as much or more. For voice interactions, 48% trust a human phone agent over an AI voice agent, while 37% trust the AI equally or more.

Confidence in AI also varies sharply by market. The US is the most AI-skeptical market surveyed: just 26% of shoppers think AI will make their holiday shopping easier, and 43% say it won’t. Brazil is at the opposite end, with 78% of the surveyed shoppers saying AI will make their shopping easier this year.

Other key findings:

• 43% think AI will make their holiday shopping easier this year, down from 48% in 2025
• Privacy or data use is shoppers’ top AI concern, cited by 43%; only 7% say they have no concerns at all
• 81% are confident an AI assistant can handle order tracking and shipping updates; confidence falls to 62% for payment or billing changes
• Only 1 of 2,501 respondents said they would never want to interact with an AI chatbot
• 53% trust a real person’s product recommendation over AI’s; 47% trust AI just as much or more
• 48% trust a human phone agent more than an AI voice agent, while 37% trust both equally and 15% want the option to transfer to a human if needed.
• The US is the most AI-skeptical market surveyed (26% of the surveyed shoppers think AI will help, 43% say it won’t); Brazil is the most optimistic (78% of the surveyed shoppers)

About the research

The findings are based on an online survey of 2,501 consumers in the United States (698), Australia (351), Brazil (350), the United Kingdom (252), France (225), Germany (225), Mexico (200) and Spain (200), conducted by Sinch in 2026.

The 2026 study follows Sinch’s previous BFCM consumer research. India and Canada were included in the 2025 sample but not in 2026. Full country-level data is available on request. Read more about the survey here.

About Sinch

Sinch’s vision is to connect every business with every customer, everywhere in the world. With the industry’s most trusted foundation for intelligent customer communications, Sinch powers over 900 billion customer interactions annually for more than 200,000 customers across the globe. Leading global companies, including AI innovators, rely on Sinch to strengthen customer relationships and deliver seamless experiences across messaging, email and voice. Profitable since its founding in 2008, Sinch generated net sales of USD 3 billion (SEK 27 billion) in 2025 and has over 4,000 employees in more than 60 countries, with headquarters in Stockholm. Sinch is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (XSTO: SINCH). Visit us at www.group.sinch.com.