Key stat: 71% of US marketers say establishing ethical and privacy standards should be the top priority when preparing for a future where consumers delegate tasks to AI agents, according to an October 2025 survey from the Association of National Advertisers and The Harris Poll.

Beyond the chart:

• Just 30% of worldwide consumers say they completely trust AI to make purchases for them, according to a May 2025 survey from Kantar, even as agentic checkout features roll out across Google, Amazon, and ChatGPT.
• Meanwhile, early adopters are already transacting. 29% of consumers have made a purchase based solely on an AI-generated response, and 87% of those buyers were satisfied, according to an October 2025 survey from Optimizely.

Use this chart: Drop this in strategy decks when sequencing your AI agent roadmap. It shows the industry consensus: Trust frameworks come before technical integrations. Use it to justify prioritizing ethics and privacy work ahead of API builds or content reformatting, especially when stakeholders push for speed over safeguards.

Related EMARKETER reports:

• Top Trends to Watch in 2026 (EMARKETER subscription required)
• Retail Trends to Watch in 2026(EMARKETER subscription required)

Methodology: Data is from the November 2025 Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and The Harris Poll report titled "Signals from the Stage: What the ANA Masters of Marketing Conference Revealed About the Future of Brands." 151 US marketers were surveyed during October 21-24, 2025. The respondents were a mix of client-side marketers and marketing solutions providers (e.g., agencies, media companies, industry consultants) who attended the 2025 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference in Orlando, Florida. 4 polls comprising 6 questions were conducted via The Harris Poll’s QuestDIY platform. The questions received an average of 96 responses, ranging from 66 to 151.