Seventy-two percent of Americans say they will not use AI tools for holiday shopping this year — a 23-percentage-point jump from 49% in 2025, according to a new Bank of America survey. The shift lands at an awkward moment for an industry spending heavily on the opposite bet.

Google has introduced an AI-powered shopping cart. Meta's Muse can search for products and stage purchases for user approval. OpenAI's ChatGPT Wallet lets eligible users pay for purchases through an AI agent (software that acts on a user's behalf). Adobe expects traffic from AI tools to U.S. retail sites to jump 130% this holiday season.

Consumers, on the evidence, are not cooperating.

What does the rejection actually measure?

The survey asked the AI question identically in both years, Bank of America said. But it captures intentions, not behavior — and intentions bend during the last-minute scramble before Christmas. The bank has no data showing whether shoppers are actually using AI less. Stated preferences and checkout behavior are not the same thing; the industry will learn that only after the season's receipts are counted.

Among those who plan to skip the technology, the stated reasons point at meaning rather than efficiency: 42% cited personal or ethical reasons, 37% said AI takes away the personal aspect of gift giving, and 26% said they do not 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, particularly as they watch holiday budgets. "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."

Is the problem capability, or what shoppers lose?

Colleen Kirk, a professor of marketing and management at New York Institute of Technology, argues the hesitation has less to do with what AI can do than with what shoppers feel they surrender 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.

Her research on consumer psychology has found that people can feel guilty when AI writes heartfelt messages, because the words no longer feel entirely their own. She believes the same dynamic extends to gift giving: the time and thought spent choosing something are part of what makes the gesture meaningful.

That effort produces what researchers call psychological ownership — the feeling of having a personal stake in something. Browsing stores, comparing options and choosing a gift let shoppers feel they are giving part of themselves, Kirk said. "Using AI can take away this sense of ownership," she said. "It's like the AI owns the process rather than me."

The sentiment fits the broader spending mood in the survey: 87% of Americans expect to spend the same amount or less this year, and 63% said they base spending strictly on their own budgets rather than on what friends or family spend. Monfared said that same disciplined approach may be shaping how consumers use AI and social media to shop.

Where consumers will let AI in

The aversion is not absolute; shoppers are assigning AI the unglamorous jobs. The survey found:

• 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. Those numbers suggest a ceiling well below what Google, Meta and OpenAI are building toward — including AI agents that complete purchases outright, a market Mastercard and Visa are already positioning to serve.

Kirk said AI may have a more natural home in the impersonal parts of shopping: finding coupons, comparing prices, buying groceries and household supplies. Those tasks save time and money without asking consumers to cede control over meaningful purchases.

For gifts, her advice is sequencing: come up with your own ideas first, then use AI to narrow the options. Research, she noted, has found people feel more ownership over an outcome when they generate their own ideas before using AI.

She also concedes the trade may be rational. With holiday shopping competing for time with family and friends, some consumers may reasonably hand AI the tedious tasks. "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.

What does this change for the tech companies? For now, the data says their agents will be comparing prices, not choosing the presents — and the 130% traffic forecast Adobe projects says the tools will arrive regardless of whether anyone trusts them with the gift list.