Shoppers Skeptical of AI but Trust It for Specific Tasks, Sinch Survey Finds — Sinch AB

Event summary

Sinch AB's 2026 survey of 2,501 consumers across eight markets shows declining confidence in AI for holiday shopping, with only 43% believing it will make shopping easier, down from 48% in 2025.
Privacy remains the top concern for 43% of shoppers, while only 7% have no concerns about AI.
Confidence in AI is high for specific tasks like order tracking (81%) and pre-purchase questions (74%), but lower for payment or billing changes (62%).
The US is the most AI-skeptical market, with only 26% of shoppers thinking AI will help, while Brazil is the most optimistic at 78%.
Only one respondent out of 2,501 said they would never want to interact with an AI chatbot.

The big picture

Sinch AB's research highlights a growing divide in consumer attitudes toward AI, with broad skepticism but strong trust in AI for specific, practical tasks. This trend underscores the need for targeted AI implementations that prioritize transparency and ease of handoff to human agents when necessary. The varying levels of AI acceptance across different markets also suggest that global retailers must adopt regionally tailored strategies to maximize AI's effectiveness.

What we're watching

Task-Specific AI: How retailers will optimize AI for high-confidence tasks like order tracking and pre-purchase questions while managing lower-trust areas like payments.
Regional Disparities: Whether the stark differences in AI skepticism between markets like the US and Brazil will influence global AI deployment strategies.
Privacy and Trust: The pace at which companies can address privacy concerns to build broader consumer trust in AI applications.