What: A coalition of banks said AI shopping bots are advancing faster than consumer protections and called for disclosure, transparency and safeguards around agentic commerce. 

Why it is important: It highlights a widening trust gap consumers face with AI shopping tools — echoed in past coverage of shopper hesitancy — that retailers adopting AI agents will need to actively address to protect conversion and loyalty.

Banks including NatWest, Bank of America, ING, ASB Bank, Capital One and Commonwealth Bank of Australia warned on September 22 that using AI agents for online shopping could increase the risk of scams, fraud and data-privacy breaches, as they set out principles for developing the technology responsibly.

Technology companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta are increasingly promoting AI chatbots as shopping tools, while retailers race to influence how these bots make recommendations. British retailer John Lewis said AI-agent-originated searches had risen to 2.5% of traffic from 0.3% a year earlier, with the trend accelerating.

The banks' report found that while customers are enthusiastic about agentic commerce, they remain unsure whether AI will act in their interest, fearing agents could buy the wrong items, overspend, or expose them to scams with no clear recourse. Specific risks flagged include AI agents entering card details directly into websites or steering shoppers toward payment methods with weaker protections.

The banks plan to raise proposals with policymakers, including mandatory disclosure when AI is involved in a transaction, greater decision-making transparency, data safeguards, and interoperability between competing AI-commerce systems.

IADS Notes: Concerns over trust and accountability in AI-driven shopping have been a recurring theme in recent coverage. John Lewis's own experience with rising AI-agent traffic was detailed by Reuters in September 2026, which described the retailer's efforts to adapt to this shift. The question of governance sits at the centre of the debate: RH-ISAC, writing in August 2026, argued that AI agents require clear ownership structures rather than technical guardrails alone, echoing the banks' call for greater transparency over how these systems make decisions. Consumer hesitancy has also been well documented: Journal du Net, in a June 2026 piece, explored shoppers' reluctance to fully hand over purchasing decisions to AI, a sentiment that aligns with the banks' finding that customers remain unsure whether AI agents act in their interest. On the fraud side, RH-ISAC's June 2026 benchmarking report quantified the scale of account fraud facing retailers, underscoring the stakes behind the banks' warnings about AI agents entering payment details or steering shoppers toward weaker-protection methods. Building trust through clearer processes was also addressed by Customer Experience Dive in July 2026, which noted that a clear path to a live agent improves confidence in AI-driven customer service.

Banks warn AI shopping bots raise scam, fraud and data-privacy risks