More than one in ten online shoppers are expected to routinely use AI agents to purchase products on their behalf by 2030, according to futurists’ predictions in new Mastercard report A Short History of the Future of Shopping and Payments.Drawing on Mastercard research and the perspectives of four world-leading futurists from the US, Europe and Asia, the report explores what everyday life is likely to look like by the end of the decade.This includes AI-assisted agents that can negotiate prices, smart watches and rings that show how products are performing after sale, and even physical AI agents walking through shop doors for the first time.“For sixty years, Mastercard has made it possible for people to pay, and get paid simply and securely, and that purpose continues through what could be one of the most significant shifts in retail shopping in decades,” says Brice van de Walle, Executive Vice President, Core Payments Europe, Mastercard. “AI increasingly helps people decide what to buy; tomorrow it will help do the purchasing for them too. Technologies like Agent Pay are enabling a future where machines are trusted to transact on our behalf. This report is an invitation for consumers and businesses to take small practical steps today to prepare for that future together.”AI agents will become mainstreamThe predictions, developed in partnership with four of the world’s leading thinkers on the future of AI and commerce, Magnus Lindkvist, Patrick Dixon MBE, Katja Forbes and Theodora Lau, uncover the changes everyone needs to prepare for. Everyday purchases like groceries, medicines and subscriptions are expected to be the first categories delegated to AI agents.“By 2030, buying and shopping will no longer mean the same thing,” says Magnus Lindkvist, lead futurist contributing to the report. “AI agents will handle routine buying, leaving shopping as something we choose to do for discovery, inspiration and pleasure.”Young consumers are already embracing AIThe report’s predictions are echoed in Mastercard’s latest research, which indicates that a shift in consumer attitudes and behaviours is already happening.A survey of 26,000 parents and teenagers (aged 13-18) across 13 countries found that today’s teens are using AI to support shopping decisions at around twice the rate of their parents, and adopting AI shopping tools at a pace their parents have yet to match. The findings suggest AI-powered commerce is moving from emerging technology to mainstream behaviour, as younger generations grow more comfortable delegating discovery, recommendations and decisions to AI:1 in 4 (27%) teens say they’re likely to use a fully AI-run shopping assistant - one that recommends products, chooses between options and completes purchases based on rules they set - compared with 16% of parents.Teens are twice as likely as their parents to be using AI weekly to find the best price or discount (18% vs 10%).Trust is shifting too with a third of teens (31%) saying they’d trust an AI’s product recommendation over a friend’s, while one in four (23%) would now trust AI over their own parents’ advice.67% of parents expect AI shopping to define their child's generation while only 5% think it will define their own.The shift spans across generations, not just between them – younger parents aged 18-34 use AI weekly to research products - more than those aged 55+ (14% vs 10%).Retailers will serve both AI agents and peopleFuturist predictions in the report reveal a new kind of customer for retailers; an AI agent that can read reams of data, verify claims, scan for customer reviews and feedback in seconds to inform their decision and complete the purchase.As a result, they say that retailers will need to adapt loyalty programs, customer relationships and digital experiences for agents. That means making product information, claims and policies machine-readable. For example, a sustainability claim should come with a certificate an agent can find, read and verify.Trust will be the defining competitive advantageThe report identifies that trust is central to the shift to agentic commerce. As Magnus Lindkvist puts it: “Every great shift in commerce has been, at heart, a shift in trust. From the marketplace to the mall, to the catalogue, to the click of a button, each historic evolvement of commerce has asked people to place trust somewhere new.”Agentic commerce is the most profound shift yet, as people no longer just trust technology to inform their choices, they trust it to make them.According to Theodora Lau, merchants and financial institutions will need to earn that trust through clear frameworks for identity, consent, authorization and liability.She predicts that at least three G20 regulators are expected to issue formal guidance on registering and monitoring AI agents by 2030, and payment intent will become as valuable as the payment itself. That is because consumer authorization for an agent to purchase on their behalf could become readable even before the purchase has been made. Agentic commerce is already beginning to emergeWhile the report looks towards 2030, early examples of agentic commerce are already happening. Earlier this year, Mastercard and its partners completed Europe's first live end-to-end agentic payment transaction, demonstrating how AI agents can securely support purchasing and payment experiences while maintaining appropriate safeguards, transparency and consumer control.NoYesArtificial Intelligence08 Sep, 2026