The news: Gen Zers and millennials will lead the charge in shopping with AI agents, but not without guardrails.

• 47% of Gen Zers and 48% of millennials say they are at least somewhat likely to let AI agents buy things for them, per a YouGov survey.
• Gen Xers aren’t far behind at 45%, while just 33% of baby boomers would cede that control.

Restrictions are necessary: Gen Zers are quick to adopt new technologies, but they remain cautious about critical aspects of AI agents.

• Spending limits. Among likely AI agent adopters, 53% would require approval before letting AI buy anything under $100. More than a quarter (28%) say they’d need to approve any amount.
• Shared responsibility. US consumers are divided on who would take the blame if an agent makes an unwanted purchase. One-third (33%) say the company offering the AI service is responsible, while 36% say it falls on the consumer.

As generative AI (genAI) search platforms become product discovery tools, purchases via AI agents and assistants are likely to rise. Google and Amazon introduced home AI products this week to capitalize on that growing interest.

Our take: For brands, deploying responsible AI agents is key. That means constantly monitoring customer-facing products for hallucinations, keeping humans in the loop to establish accountability and accuracy, and ensuring customers are getting the experiences they want.

On the back end, brands need to dive into generative engine optimization (GEO) to ensure products are easily discoverable in genAI searches.

Go further: Read our report on What the Rise of GenAI Assistants Means for Retail Media.