Observed Signal · Sep 2, 2026 · Research Report · Source: https://marketingtechnews.net/feed/ · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Mastercard Research Highlights AI Agents as New Brand Challenge
Mastercard's new Signals report, 'Encoding Trust: The Race for Intent, Consent and Control in the Agentic World', examines how AI agents will reshape commerce and what brands must do to win their trust. It forecasts agent-assisted consumer spending will reach $3-5 trillion by 2030, with B2B spending potentially three times higher. Survey data shows 85% of consumers are open to using AI agents to find products, 74% are willing to delegate specific commerce tasks, but only 10% would let an agent complete a purchase fully autonomously. Mastercard argues that scale depends on consent-based, visible and reversible transactions, proposing 'agentic tokens' and a trust layer to limit agents' spending powers. The report also warns that traditional human persuasion tactics, such as scarcity messaging and FOMO, are ineffective with AI agents, so brands must prioritize accurate product data, competitive pricing and authentic ratings.
Mastercard research quantifies the rise of AI agents in commerce and reveals a major trust gap; it signals that brands and marketers must adapt to machine buyers, with implications for advertising measurement, product data, and persuasion strategies.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Mastercard published the Signals report 'Encoding Trust: The Race for Intent, Consent and Control in the Agentic World'.
- Agent-assisted consumer spending is forecast to reach $3-5 trillion by 2030, with B2B spending potentially three times that figure.
- 85% of consumers are open to using AI agents to find products or services, 74% are open to handing over specific commerce tasks, and only 10% are willing to let an agent complete a purchase fully autonomously.
- Mastercard proposes a trust layer and 'agentic tokens' with specific permissions, such as spending limits, to govern AI agent transactions.
- An OSF survey of 50 e-commerce executives found most companies are unprepared for conversion shifts caused by AI agents.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped“A new Signals report from Mastercard has examined the impact of this kind of agentic commerce....”
“Google has already launched a universal commerce protocol (UCP) enabling AI agents to transact across retailers....”
“Amazon has unveiled tools allowing agents to browse other retailer sites on a customer's behalf....”
“An OSF survey revealed most companies are unprepared for this, with the majority of 50 e-commerce executive respondents saying they have not...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Mastercard Prepares Brands for an AI-Agent World
Mastercard EVP Rustom Dastoor told Adweek in a CES 2026 podcast interview that the company is preparing brands for a future where AI agents make purchasing decisions. Mastercard processes roughly 150 billion transactions annually, which it uses in aggregated, anonymized form to surface real consumer behavior. Dastoor argued many brands use AI to automate existing tactics rather than unlock new capabilities, and introduced the concept of “technical branding” — optimizing brand signals for algorithmic/agent-level decisioning — alongside ideas like hyper relevance and tokenized verifiable content to help agents trust brands. He also highlighted sports as a consolidated, high-value media environment and discussed Mastercard’s experiential marketing history, including its Priceless platform and entertainment partnerships.
AI Agents Emerge as Key Holiday Shoppers
At The Advertising Club of New York's Commerce Media Exchange Conference, executives from Wevo, Dentsu, and Mastercard discussed the growing influence of AI agents on commerce and advertising. Nitzan Shaer, CEO of Wevo, cited Adobe data showing that 20% of holiday shopping experiences in 2025 were influenced by AI agents, with conversion rates 40% higher for agent-influenced purchases by March 2026. Jen Bryce of Dentsu highlighted the shift from search bars to agents pre-filtering options and the use of AI agents for continuous media planning and optimization. Nili Klenoff of Mastercard emphasized the importance of brand trust and product data legibility for agents. The panel also covered the use of synthetic audiences for campaign testing, balancing automation with human judgment, and the need for marketers to measure agent-driven traffic separately.
Visa Study: Trust in Established Payment Brands Key for Agentic Commerce
A new Visa study reveals that while 72% of US consumers have used an AI assistant, only 23% trust generative AI to independently handle payments. However, trust increases significantly when established payment brands are involved, with 61% willing to entrust Visa with agentic transactions, rising to 68% among 18-34 year-olds and 71% among frequent AI users. The study, conducted by Harris Poll in late May 2026 with 2,065 US consumers, highlights a distinction between trust in AI for product search and the need for reliable payment infrastructure. Visa is developing 'Visa Intelligent Commerce' to build technologies and standards for AI-agent-initiated transactions, focusing on identity verification, authentication, and consumer controls. The findings suggest that agentic commerce is still in its early stages, with a significant acceptance gap between using AI assistants and fully autonomous purchases.
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