Ping Identity, a leader in securing digital identities for the world’s largest enterprises, released its 2026 Consumer Survey, revealing a clear limit to how much autonomy Singapore consumers are willing to give AI: showing they are open to AI taking on greater responsibility and access, but expect clear guardrails as AI moves from assistance to action.
The findings, based on a survey of 11,000 consumers across 12 countries, including 1,000 consumers in Singapore, reveal a trust challenge as AI moves from answering questions to acting on consumers’ behalf. That shift requires consumers to trust organisations and their AI agents with greater access to personal data and digital accounts, while expectations around transparency, representation, oversight and accountability remain high. In Singapore, 81% worry an AI agent acting on their behalf could misrepresent their personality or personal values, while 62% are more concerned about constantly double-checking an AI agent’s work than about AI making a mistake.
“Consumers are open to AI doing more, but they want a say in how far it can go,” said Darryl Jones, Vice President of Consumer Segment Strategy at Ping Identity. “The more responsibility we give AI, the more important it becomes to be clear about what it can do, what it can access and who remains in control.”
“Singapore is moving quickly from AI experimentation to real-world adoption,” said Akkasha Sultan, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) at Ping Identity. “The opportunity is significant, but adoption will depend on trust. Consumers need to know which AI agent is acting, what it can access and when a person remains accountable.”
As AI moves from assistance to action, secure and governed AI is critical to building consumer trust. Singapore’s findings align closely with the country’s push towards responsible Agentic AI. IMDA’s Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI emphasises boundaries on agent autonomy and access, meaningful human approval, accountability and controls throughout the agent lifecycle. Its AI Agents Sandbox has similarly highlighted human oversight, cybersecurity, data protection and access controls as agentic systems scale. Against that backdrop, Ping’s research shows openness to AI alongside high expectations around representation, oversight and regulation. Clear permissions, transparency and accountability can give consumers confidence that AI is acting within defined boundaries and that people remain in control.
