72% of Americans Say No to AI Holiday Shopping, Up From 49%

Seventy-two percent of Americans say they don't plan to use AI tools for holiday shopping this year — up from 49% in 2025, a 23-percentage-point jump, according to a new Bank of America survey.

That's an awkward data point for the tech industry. Google has introduced an AI-powered shopping cart. Meta's Muse can search for products and prepare purchases for approval. OpenAI's new ChatGPT Wallet lets eligible users pay for purchases through an AI agent. Adobe expects traffic from AI tools to U.S. retail sites to jump 130% this holiday season.

The pipeline is expanding. Consumer appetite, at least by self-report, is contracting.

Why are shoppers refusing?

The reasons respondents gave suggest that when it comes to gifts, efficiency isn't the point. Among those who don't plan to use the technology:

• 42% cited personal or ethical reasons
• 37% said AI takes away the personal aspect of gift giving
• 26% said they don't trust AI recommendations

Lora Monfared, head of consumer credit card products at Bank of America, said shoppers may be growing more selective about when AI is worth using, especially as they watch holiday spending more closely.

"Some of last year's curiosity about AI may also have worn off, and we could be seeing a bit of AI fatigue," Monfared told Fortune. "Gift shopping is personal, and people want to feel good about what they're giving."

The spending backdrop is cautious. The survey found 87% of Americans expect to spend the same amount or less on holiday shopping this year, and 63% said they base their spending strictly on their own budgets rather than what friends or family spend. Monfared said that same approach may be shaping how consumers use AI and social media to shop.

What do shoppers feel they're losing?

Colleen Kirk, a professor of marketing and management at New York Institute of Technology, said the hesitation may have less to do with what AI can do than with what shoppers feel they lose by using it.

"Gift giving is a very personal act, and gifts, especially to close family and friends, are given from the heart," Kirk told Fortune.

In her research on consumer psychology, she has found that consumers can feel guilty when they use AI to write heartfelt messages because the words no longer feel entirely their own. She believes the same concern extends to gift giving, where the time and thought spent choosing something for another person are part of what makes the gesture meaningful.

That effort creates what researchers call psychological ownership — the feeling of having a personal stake in something. Kirk said browsing stores, comparing options online, and choosing a gift can make shoppers feel as though they're giving part of themselves to someone else.

"Using AI can take away this sense of ownership," she said. "It's like the AI owns the process rather than me."

Where does AI still get the job?

Shoppers aren't swearing off AI entirely — they're giving it the unglamorous jobs. The Bank of America survey found that:

• 17% plan to use AI to compare prices or deals
• 14% will use it for gift ideas or inspiration
• 7% will use it to write messages or cards

Respondents could select more than one use.

One caveat matters here. Bank of America said it asked the AI shopping question the same way in both years, but the survey only measures intentions, and those tend to get flexible in the last-minute scramble before Christmas. The bank doesn't have data showing whether shoppers are actually using AI less.

What's the way forward for AI commerce?

Kirk said AI may have a more natural place in the less personal parts of shopping — finding coupons, comparing prices, or buying groceries and household supplies. Those tasks save time and money without asking consumers to give up control over more meaningful purchases.

For gift shopping, she suggested shoppers come up with their own ideas first, then turn to AI to help narrow their options. Research has found that people feel more ownership over an outcome when they generate their own ideas before using AI, she said.

And with holiday shopping competing for time that could be spent with family and friends, Kirk said some consumers may decide that letting AI handle the unglamorous tasks is a worthwhile trade-off.

"Consumers might just decide that it is worth it to give up a little bit of ownership of the process in exchange for getting more time for those special emotional connections with the humans they love," Kirk said.

The message for Google, Meta and OpenAI: the 130% traffic surge Adobe forecasts may still arrive, but it's likely to run through price comparisons and coupons — not the gift list.