Experian chief innovation officer Kathleen Peters explained it this way. Our digital world is “a clear convergence between consumer expectations and business priorities.”

Experian recently released its 11th annual Identity and Fraud Report, highlighting how artificial intelligence is transforming the digital economy while simultaneously creating new opportunities for fraud.

The findings point to a growing challenge for auto lenders, car dealerships and other businesses. They all need to build trust in an economy where both people and AI agents are increasingly participating in digital transactions.

The report found 31% of consumers have already used AI tools to shop and transact online, and another 23% would consider doing so.

However, Experian said confidence drops sharply for higher-stakes decisions with just 21% comfortable relying on AI for completing travel-related purchases and only 17% for financial services decisions.

Meanwhile, more than half of people say they’re concerned about AI-enabled scams, underscoring the trust challenges that could shape the next phase of AI adoption.

“AI is transforming digital interactions in ways that are creating both exciting opportunities and new risks,” Peters said in a news release. “As we move toward a human-not-present era where consumers increasingly rely on AI to help make decisions on their behalf, the organizations that will succeed will be the ones that make trust visible. Establishing identity and trust, whether for a person or an AI agent, is essential to every digital interaction.”

Experian pointed out that fraud losses continue to climb.

Consumers reported $15.9 billion in fraud losses in 2025, up 27% from the previous year, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Experian suspects that the actual losses are likely much higher as many fraud cases go unreported. Why?

Experian’s research found that nearly 1 in 5 people suffered personal financial losses from online fraud in the past year, and another 15% say fraud was attempted but prevented.

Researchers also noted that 72% of victims say the experience left them feeling more vulnerable online.

According to Experian, phishing scams were the most common consumer fraud incident reported (26%), followed by fake advertising (19%), package delivery scams (16%), credit card theft (16%), unauthorized charges (15%) and fraudulent bank transactions (15%).

The report showed businesses are feeling the impact as well, with 60% reporting fraud losses are somewhat or significantly higher than previous years, and 77% expect fraud management budgets to increase.

As Peters alluded to, AI is creating both opportunity and risk.

Experian determined companies identify AI-generated phishing attacks as their leading AI-related fraud concern (53%), followed by AI-assisted first-party fraud (51%), document forgery (45%), automated bot attacks (40%) and deepfake voice scams (37%).

To combat these threats, researchers said businesses are rapidly adopting AI to strengthen defenses.

In fact, Experian found 80% of organizations report using machine learning or generative AI within fraud management environments to help identify suspicious activity, improve identity verification and enhance fraud detection capabilities.

Bottom line: Experian said identity and security remain critical to trust.

As digital interactions become more automated, Experian pointed out that consumers expect both security and convenience.

To reinforce this thinking, Experian said 71% of consumers say it’s important for businesses to accurately recognize them online, while nearly 50% report greater trust in organizations that can do so without requiring repeated authentication.

In addition, 84% say they’re willing to complete additional security steps when needed to prevent fraud, according to the report.

Experian’s Identity and Fraud Report is based on two major surveys conducted in the U.S. with HarrisX in April.

The first asked more than 2,000 U.S. consumers about their online interactions and expectations regarding security and customer experience.

The second survey asked more than 200 businesses in the U.S. about their strategies for effective fraud management, customer identification and authentication, including investments related to security and customer experience. Companies ranged in size from $10 million to above $1 billion in revenue.

Experian explained its findings suggest trust is becoming a competitive differentiator in an AI-driven marketplace.

“Consumers are embracing digital channels while expecting stronger protection, greater transparency and more control over their information. Businesses are responding with investments in fraud prevention, identity intelligence, adaptive authentication and AI-driven decisioning,” Peters said in the report, which is available online.

“As we look ahead, the conversation extends beyond AI-powered fraud. Agentic AI and autonomous digital agents are poised to reshape the market, and AI agents will increasingly compare products, manage subscriptions, open accounts, schedule services and complete purchases on behalf of consumers,” Peters continued.

“The future of fraud prevention will depend not only on verifying people, but also on verifying the digital agents acting on their behalf. Identity, transparency and trust will become essential infrastructure in an increasingly autonomous digital economy,” Peters went on to say.

To address this challenge, Experian recently launched Experian Agent Trust, extending its expertise in identity and fraud prevention to help verify not only the person, but also the AI agent acting on their behalf.

Experian’s identity verification and fraud prevention solutions helped clients avoid an estimated $19 billion in fraud losses globally in 2025.

To learn more, watch Experian’s 2026 Fraud Trends: Navigating AI and the Future of Digital Trust webinar here.