Do consumers give ai the power to make buying decisions?: A qualitative study

Technologies associated with artificial intelligence are rapidly developing and becoming widespread. The marketing field is naturally affected by these developments. The shopping methods of the consumers are changing and the consumers are keeping up with these changes at an astonishing speed. One of the emerging technologies is autonomous shopping systems. White goods that can observe the products inside are already used in our daily life. The next step is machines integrated with vendor systems, which place their own orders after observing the products inside. It seems quite possible for advanced autonomous shopping systems to enter human life with the combined use of artificial intelligence, which is used for different purposes, comparing prices and products, artificial intelligence that monitors and interprets consumers' behavior, and advanced sensor technology. In our research, consumers' approaches to this emerging technology and whether consumers will leave their decisions to artificial intelligence have been investigated. Data were collected by semi-structured in-depth interview technique in order to obtain more reliable results. As a result of the interviews, themes were found that would make the answer to the research question "yes" and "no". Trust in artificial intelligence, facilitating life, unpleasant shopping, fear of artificial intelligence, the desire to be involved in the process and human nature. The balance seen in the interviews was also reflected in the research results and was explained with the metaphor of scales. The weight of the frameworks drawn as a result of the research on each sides of the scale varies from person to person and changes the result. Keywords: Consumer behavior, Autonomous shopping systems, Artificial intelligence, Purchasing decision making, Automed decision making