A new survey from Riskified, a global leader in e-commerce fraud prevention and risk intelligence, indicates that nearly three-quarters of online shoppers are now using artificial intelligence (AI) in their purchasing journeys, a trend that introduces new challenges and potential fraud liability for merchants.
Based on a global survey of over 5,000 consumers, the research highlights a significant shift in e-commerce, with 73% of shoppers integrating AI into their purchasing processes. Consumers are utilizing AI assistants like ChatGPT for various tasks, including generating product ideas (45%), summarizing reviews (37%), and comparing prices (32%). While only 13% have completed a purchase directly referred by an AI assistant, 70% express comfort with an AI agent making purchases on their behalf. Over half (58%) anticipate using these tools for gift shopping this year, signaling the advent of the first AI-powered holiday shopping season.
This increased convenience for consumers may expose merchants to heightened risks, particularly concerning liability in this emerging domain. Jeff Otto, Chief Marketing Officer at Riskified, noted, “AI shopping agents may make buying easier for consumers, but they also blur the lines of accountability for fraud and policy abuse.” He further explained the uncertainty surrounding merchant liability in disputes when a shopper has not directly visited the merchant’s site during an AI-driven checkout, citing potential issues from hijacked AI accounts to legitimate customers claiming AI errors, all within a context of limited data transparency.
Fraud organizations are expected to leverage advancements in agentic commerce, utilizing AI themselves to exploit vulnerabilities in identity verification, account security, customer service claims, and payment processes. This smoother shopping experience for consumers could lead to an increase in disputes and chargebacks, resulting in unrecoverable costs for merchants.
Businesses may face disadvantages reflected in consumer concerns, with payment security being the primary worry for 32% of shoppers, followed by privacy (26%), potential mistakes (18%), and loss of control (17%). Despite these anxieties, consumer trust in AI is approaching that of traditional channels; 36% of consumers now trust AI to influence purchases, closely mirroring the 38% who rely on in-store associates. Only 25% prefer to shop online without AI assistance.
In response to this evolving consumer behavior and the rollout of the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)—an open standard designed to facilitate purchases through AI interfaces—merchant fraud teams are advised to focus on several strategic imperatives. These include educating executive leadership on new fraud vectors and abuse, advocating for data transparency from technology platforms like OpenAI regarding crucial customer behavioral insights, and leveraging shared intelligence through networked fraud platforms to restore context in agentic transactions.
Otto emphasized the role of fraud teams: “Fraud teams are the natural leaders for agentic commerce safety because they’re hardwired to see both the opportunity and the risk. Their expertise isn’t about saying ‘no’ to innovation; it’s about building the guardrails that allow the company to say ‘yes’ confidently. They are essential to ensuring that exciting new channels like this become sustainable revenue drivers, not vectors for fraud and abuse.”
Riskified (NYSE: RSKD) provides tools designed to support growth and security for merchants in agentic commerce, offering guarantees to offset financial liability for agentic fraud chargebacks. The company conducted its online survey from September through October 2025, gathering data from 5,400 consumers aged 18 to 64 across various markets, including the U.
S., U.
K., Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Australia, China, the Netherlands, and the UAE. Respondents were consumers who had made an online purchase within the preceding three months.
