NEARLY half of Brits would allow AI to access their browsing history, while four in five would trust it with personal data, according to a new survey, prompting warnings not to hand chatbots “the keys to your identity”.
The poll by Omnisend found 79.44% of UK respondents said they would trust AI with their data, while 43.76% said they would let it access their browsing history.
The figures also showed 38.91% would allow AI to see their past purchase history, 27.31% would share their location for delivery or local availability, 23.2% would grant access to email receipts and 16.89% would let it use their social media likes or follows. A further 20.56% said they would allow access to none of those categories, according to the survey.
Marty Bauer, retail analyst at Omnisend, said the findings suggested shoppers were increasingly willing to trade personal information for a quicker and more tailored retail experience.
He added: “Shoppers are clearly more open to AI in retail than many brands might have expected. Four in five say they’d trust AI with their personal data, and close to half would even allow access to browsing history.
“Consumers are looking for convenience, and to get that, they are willing to share information for a smoother, more relevant shopping experience.”
Don’t hand chatbots the keys to your identity
But he said that trust could quickly disappear if shoppers feel AI is becoming intrusive or unclear in the way it uses their data.
Bauer continued: “The caveat is that this trust is still fragile. People are comfortable with AI helping them discover products or cut through the noise online, but they’re far less relaxed when it starts to feel intrusive or unclear how their data is being used.
“Retailers must put their focus on getting the balance right. AI can absolutely make shopping more relevant and convenient, but only if brands are upfront about how customer data is being used and give people a sense of control over the experience.”
Cybersecurity experts said the findings should ring alarm bells because the information many people appear willing to hand over can reveal far more than they realise.
Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN, said: “Millions of Brits are willing to trade data for convenience if they believe AI will give them a better experience in return.
“The issue with this attitude is that most people aren’t aware how revealing that data can be once it is combined by a scammer to make a full victim profile. Browsing history, receipts, location data, and inbox access can paint an extremely detailed picture of someone’s life.”
He warned that people should think twice before agreeing to broad permissions.
Briedis added: “Before granting access, users should ask whether it is genuinely necessary and keep permissions as limited as possible. Don’t give a chatbot the keys to your identity.”
Brits aren’t naive, they’re realists
Colette Mason, author and AI consultant at London-based Clever Clogs AI, said many consumers now see sharing data with AI as a straightforward trade-off.
She added: “Brits aren’t naive, they’re realists. They’ve lived inside social media surveillance for 20 years and this is the first time sharing data has offered them something tangible back.
“Compared to what people have already given away for nothing, the trade feels rational.”
But others said the numbers may reflect public exhaustion with privacy battles rather than genuine confidence in AI tools.
Mitali Deypurkaystha, human-first AI strategist and author at Newcastle upon Tyne-based Impact Icon AI, said: “This isn’t blind trust, it’s burnout.
“After years of scandals from Cambridge Analytica to endless cookie pop-ups, people feel the privacy battle is already lost.”
She warned that tired consumers risk clicking through permissions without fully understanding what they are giving away.
Deypurkaystha continued: “Unless protections catch up, Britain won’t just be using AI, it’ll be sleepwalking into surrendering its digital selves.”
Dil Gujral, chief AI trainer at AI Now Academy, said people should not treat AI as somehow separate from the same software and infrastructure risks seen elsewhere in tech.
He added: “AI is not ‘Alien Intelligence’, it is software running on third-party hardware, which significantly expands your attack surface.
“Every new deployment introduces fresh vulnerabilities, from prompt injection to hidden backdoors.”
Convenience is not consent
Debbie Porter, managing director at Bakewell-based Destination Digital Marketing, said the speed and ease of AI tools could create misplaced trust.
She added: “It can be seductive to input a prompt or two and output information or work that would ordinarily have taken you several hours to produce yourself.
“This engenders de facto trust in the tools being used, without a second thought for data security and ethics.”
Rohit Parmar-Mistry, founder at Burton-on-Trent-based Pattrn Data, said the real danger was not science fiction, but the routine over-sharing of highly revealing information.
He continued: “A browser history is not just ‘sites you visited’, it is your habits, triggers, health hints, politics, finances, and who you are when nobody’s watching.
“The practical risk is not a Terminator scenario. It is mundane: data being retained longer than you expect, reused to train models, stitched together across tools, or exposed in a breach.”
He added: “Convenience is not consent.”
