Singaporeans open to AI shopping agents but wary of full autonomy

Nearly all Singaporeans — 82% — say neither people nor AI should access their card details.

More than half of Singaporeans, or 59%, are open to AI agents participating in their shopping, but only 15% are willing to let an AI agent complete a purchase entirely on its own, a research by Global Payments showed.

The study found that 65% of respondents want to approve purchases individually, whilst another 20% would not allow AI agents to make purchases on their behalf.

About 23% of Singaporean respondents have already used an AI agent for shopping, putting Singapore behind China and Brazil but ahead of the US and UK amongst the seven markets surveyed in terms of openness to agentic commerce.

Singaporeans showed the highest demand for a government-backed AI safety certification at 34%, and the second-highest expectation for a confirmation step before every purchase at 39%.

Phone notifications and biometric verification were also popular safeguards, with 45% wanting a phone notification before an AI-driven purchase and 41% supporting biometric sign-off.

"Consumers want the confirmation step, the certification, the proof it's secure, before they'll delegate that final purchase click," said Phil Pomford, executive lead of enterprise APAC at Global Payments.

Some 57% of Singaporeans ranked protection of their payment details as their top concern, whilst 82% said it was important that neither people nor AI agents have access to their card or bank account details.

In terms of transparency, 55% said they expect visibility into how an agent reaches its recommendations, including disclosures such as a "Sponsored" label on AI-generated picks.

Amongst Singaporeans willing to let AI agents make digital-content purchases, the average amount they would allow an agent to spend without prior approval ranged from $23.14 for creator or community-support purchases to $52.51 for subscription renewals.

Financial services recorded the widest trust gap globally, with consumers more comfortable with AI agents monitoring accounts or identifying opportunities than executing transactions, the research showed.

About 54% of Singaporean respondents would allow an AI agent to handle money transfers of up to $100 without approval, whilst the share fell to 35% for wealth or asset management.