ACI survey indicates consumer hesitation about agentic payments

# ACI survey indicates consumer hesitation about agentic payments

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent payments trade-media report on an ACI-sponsored YouGov consumer survey
> Source: [Digital Transactions](https://www.digitaltransactions.net/an-aci-survey-indicates-some-hesitation-about-agentic-payments)
> Published: 2026-09-16
> Captured: 2026-09-17T01:38:53.227Z

## Source summary

Digital Transactions reports that an ACI Worldwide-sponsored online YouGov survey of more than 3,300 gender-balanced U.K. and U.S. fashion and sportswear consumers ages 18 to 65 found 53% were uncomfortable letting AI make purchases. Twenty percent would limit AI to recommendations, while 5% would allow autonomous purchases within spending limits and 2% only at specified retailers. In a multiple-response question about payment failure, 39% said they would abandon the purchase, 22% switch merchants and 53% use another payment method.

## Why it matters

The survey suggests authorization boundaries and payment reliability will influence whether consumers delegate purchases to agents. It measures stated attitudes in a sponsored online sample, not live agentic-payment adoption, fraud, conversion or transaction performance. The fashion and sportswear focus, U.K./U.S. geography, sponsor relationship and multiple-response questions limit broader inference.

## Key numbers

- **Survey respondents:** more than 3,300
- **Uncomfortable with AI making purchases:** 53%
- **Would limit AI to recommendations:** 20%
- **Would permit autonomous buying within spending limits:** 5%
- **Would switch payment method after failure:** 53%

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Agentic payments
- Entities: ACI Worldwide
- AI-native finance
- Payment infrastructure

## Evidence and credibility note

Readable Digital Transactions report on an ACI-sponsored YouGov survey. Results are stated preferences from an online U.K./U.S. fashion and sportswear sample, not measured adoption or payment performance; payment-failure responses allowed multiple selections.

Date evidence: Digital Transactions JSON-LD records 2026-09-16T09:58:14-05:00 and the visible article is dated September 16, 2026

## First-party corroboration

No directly corresponding A1 company announcement is currently linked.

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original Digital Transactions report](https://www.digitaltransactions.net/an-aci-survey-indicates-some-hesitation-about-agentic-payments)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.