CMA analyses consumer impacts of agentic AI and issues compliance guidance for businesses
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published analysis on the emergence of agentic AI and its potential to shift consumer interactions from using AI as reactive tools to delegating outcomes to autonomous systems that can ‘sense, decide and act.’ It highlights that agentic AI could deliver substantial consumer benefits by reducing friction, lowering cognitive load, and enabling hyper personalisation, proactive support and improved access to tailored deals across complex markets. The CMA notes that, if reliably deployed at scale with strong transparency and accountability, agentic AI could strengthen consumer engagement and unlock new opportunities for UK businesses to develop agentic apps and services. However, the CMA stresses that autonomy raises material risks, including manipulation through dark patterns, errors and reliability issues, bias, loss of consumer agency, risks of agentic collusion in pricing and lock in where closed ecosystems restrict switching and data mobility. It also notes that agentic systems rely on sensitive personal data and delegated authority, increasing the need for secure digital identity, interoperability standards and privacy by design.