JMU Professor Carolin Wienrich, as a member of the Advisory Council for Consumer Affairs, has co-authored a report. It deals with consumer protection in online retail involving AI agents.
Artificial intelligence is transforming online retail: AI chatbots, which help customers compare products and prices, could soon be followed by AI agents capable of far more - shopping independently and concluding, cancelling or revoking contracts on behalf of consumers.
This is according to the Advisory Council for Consumer Affairs, which advises the German government, on its website. The council cites forecasts suggesting that by 2030, one in seven online purchases could be made with the help of AI agents. The technical term for this is 'Agentic Commerce'.
Enabling innovative commerce, ensuring consumer protection
Against this backdrop, the Council has presented the 106-page report 'Consumer Protection in Agentic Commerce'. It addresses the question of the extent to which consumer protection frameworks need to be adapted in order, on the one hand, to enable innovative business models and, on the other, to provide consumers with adequate protection.
Professor Carolin Wienrich, Chair of Psychology of Interactive Systems at the University of Würzburg, co-authored the report. She was appointed to the Expert Council in 2024 on the basis of her expertise in the field of human-AI interaction ( JMU News, 24 September 2024 ).
Council issues 25 recommendations to policymakers
The report sets out 25 recommendations on how consumer policy should respond to new developments in online retail. Here are three examples:
- AI agents should provide an overview of purchases made and expenditure, as well as the option to set spending limits, for example in the form of a monthly budget cap.
- Delays should be built into the purchasing process to reduce the likelihood of impulsive purchases.
- When making purchase recommendations, product reviews should not be displayed individually, but only in the context of other reviews. This list should be easily accessible.
The report is available as a PDF file (in English) for free download on the Advisory Council for Consumer Affairs website.
Official handover to the State Secretary
On 8 October 2026, the Council officially presented the report to the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Eva Schmierer.
Carolin Wienrich has since been appointed as a member of the Council for a further four years from 2027.
