Artificial intelligence is changing how we shop, how we discover products, compare options, and make decisions. Increasingly, it is also beginning to act on our behalf. But as AI reshapes commerce, it is also reshaping risk. And that is putting one issue at the center of the conversation: trust.
Today, payments are more seamless than ever. Financial services are embedded into the apps people use every day. Commerce is expanding across borders and platforms.
At the same time, fraud is evolving, quickly and at scale.
Visa’s latest Biannual Threats Report identified nearly $1 billion in scam-related fraud attempts in just six months. What matters even more is how these attacks are changing. Fraud is no longer just about stolen card details. It is about deception, impersonation, manipulation, and social engineering.
In parallel, cybercriminals are exploring how AI itself can be used to scale these attacks, with a 477 percent increase in underground discussions around AI-driven fraud techniques. And globally, 73 percent of consumers say they — or someone they know, have been affected by cyber-enabled fraud. This is a structural shift. Fraud no longer starts at the point of payment. It starts much earlier, at the moment trust is formed.
Trust is the new gatekeeper of growth
Saudi Arabia’s digital economy is advancing at scale. Consumers are adopting new technologies rapidly, from social commerce to AI-powered tools that help them search, compare, and decide. Recent data shows just how far this shift has gone. In Saudi Arabia, 90 percent of consumers already use AI tools during their shopping journey, and 93 percent say these tools make the experience faster and easier. But adoption has limits. When it comes to completing transactions, only 33 percent of consumers trust AI agents to make payments on their behalf. That gap between usage and trust, is where the next phase of commerce will be decided. Because in AI-powered commerce, speed and convenience are not enough. Adoption will depend on confidence.
Innovation has always needed trust to scale
Every major shift in commerce follows the same pattern: technology moves first. Trust determines whether it scales. E-commerce grew because consumers trusted online payments. Mobile payments expanded because users trusted secure digital environments. AI-powered commerce will be no different. Consumers already see the potential. In Saudi Arabia, 84 percent believe AI will play a critical role in protecting them from fraud in the future. But belief alone is not enough. Trust must be consistently delivered, in every interaction, every transaction, every moment where risk is present.
Trust is no longer a feature. It is the foundation.
Embedding trust into the system
This is where the industry must be clear: trust cannot be added later. It must be built into the system from the start. At Visa, this is our focus. We are embedding security into every layer of the transaction process — using AI to detect fraud, monitoring risks in real time, and deploying technologies such as tokenization to protect sensitive data.But technology alone will not solve this challenge.Trust is built through collaboration, across financial institutions, fintechs, merchants, and regulators, to ensure that innovation moves forward with the right safeguards in place. Our role is not just to enable transactions. It is to ensure they are secure, reliable, and trusted, at scale.
A defining moment for Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has a unique opportunity to lead in this space. Driven by Vision 2030 and a clear national focus on digital transformation, the Kingdom is building an advanced, connected, and rapidly growing digital economy. Consumers are highly engaged, businesses are innovating, and the ecosystem is evolving quickly. This creates the conditions not just to adopt AI-powered commerce — but to shape how it is implemented responsibly. Getting this right requires balance. Innovation must move in step with security. Consumer protection must keep pace with technological change. Trust must be embedded into every experience — not treated as an afterthought. If that balance is achieved, Saudi Arabia can help define how AI-driven commerce scales — securely, confidently, and sustainably.
What comes next
The next phase of commerce will not be defined by how fast technology advances. It will be defined by how confidently people use it.That confidence will depend on trust. For businesses, it means designing systems where security is built in from the outset. For policymakers, it means enabling innovation while maintaining strong protections. For consumers, it means having clarity and control at every step. AI will continue to transform commerce. That much is certain. What is not guaranteed is how widely it will be trusted.
That will determine what scales — and what does not.
- The writer, Ali Bailoun, is senior vice president and group general manager for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman, Visa.
