Adobe's latest study focusing on AI consumer and business trends has found that while consumers are becoming more open to using agentic AI-assistance throughout their purchase journeys, key hurdles remain before the majority enthusiastically adopts greater levels of agentic-AI services.
The 16th annual Adobe 2026 AI and Digital Trends Report notes that Asia Pacific consumers are more open than the global average, with 53% using AI for personalised recommendations, 48% for customer support, and 42% willing to shop via a virtual AI concierge. Globally, more than one-third (35%) say they have not yet even considered the idea of using a personal AI agent, with 16% not open to their use at all.
A key factor in consumer confidence around AI agencies is the ability to switch to using a human at any time, cited by 26% of respondents, with 70% saying they want their AI-led interactions to still feel human.
Overall, business respondents were more confident in using AI across their purchase journeys than consumers, with only 16% of consumers confident in allowing AI agents to research, negotiate and decide on large, complex purchases. The survey also showed consumer hesitancy in providing behavioural information, allowing AI agents to make final decisions or negotiate directly with brands' own AI agents.
Meanwhile, some of the key findings out of Asia Pacific include:
- Australia/New Zealand leads in identifying high-value AI use cases: 70% of Australia/New Zealand brands have identified practical, high-value AI applications, the highest in Asia Pacific, and three in four (76%) report increased speed and volume of content production due to generative AI.
- India shows strongest consumer appetite for agentic AI: 58% of Indian consumers are comfortable with agent-to-agent interactions, and 61% are happy for an AI agent to deal with a brand’s human representative on their behalf. These figures significantly outstrip both business expectations in India and other Asia Pacific markets.
- Singapore takes a more cautious path to agentic AI: Despite 80% of brands noting improvements in speed of content ideation and creation due to generative AI, Singapore executives were less likely than Asia Pacific peers to be confident adopters of new tools (18%). Consumers also showed greater caution towards autonomous AI (only 33% were comfortable with agent-to-agent interactions).
Also interesting to note is the divergence seen between an organisation's executives compared to their practitioners. Whereas executives express deep confidence in AI's ability to improve customer engagement, satisfaction and more personalised experiences through AI, far more practitioners than executives viewed AI as a means to automate talks and accelerate content creation.
This disconnect may help to explain different perceptions around readiness and adoption. Practitioners are more embedded in AI usage and expect more radical change around daily tasks, whereas strategic priorities such as customer personalisation and improved loyalty are leadership goals but are more complex to execute. Only 22% of Asia Pacific brands report strong alignment between executives setting the vision and practitioners executing delivery.
Meanwhile, a small minority (14%) of brands have embedded agentic AI across their organisations for customer support, and 12% for brand discovery and search. For most, there remain significant adoption barriers, with 74% citing data integration and data quality as a key barrier to scaling.
