Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of how Kenyans shop online, helping consumers compare prices, discover products and make purchasing decisions. But when it comes to letting AI complete the payment itself, confidence remains significantly lower.
According to Visa’s latest Stay Secure study, 89% of Kenyan consumers already use AI to support their shopping journey, yet only 29% would trust an AI agent to complete a purchase on their behalf.
TechArena spoke with Basil Kithinji, Director, Risk, Visa East Africa, about why trust remains a barrier to AI-powered payments, how fraud is evolving and what consumers, businesses and regulators need to do as digital commerce enters its next phase.
Q&A with Basil Kithinji, Director, Risk, Visa East Africa
TechArena: The study shows 89% of Kenyan consumers are using AI while shopping, but only 29% trust it at checkout. Where exactly does that trust break down?
Basil Kithinji: The trust gap appears when advice turns into action.
Consumers are comfortable using AI to discover products, compare prices, read reviews and narrow down their choices. In fact, 89% of Kenyan consumers already use AI during their shopping journey.
However, checkout is different. At that stage, consumers are authorising the movement of money. The transaction becomes financial and personal, which means people want visibility, control and reassurance that their payment credentials are protected.
This isn’t a rejection of AI. It’s a signal that trust frameworks around AI-enabled payments are still evolving. The industry’s opportunity is to deliver the same confidence at checkout that consumers already have during product discovery.
“The trust gap appears when advice turns into action.”
TechArena: What would need to change before consumers become comfortable letting AI complete purchases on their behalf?
Basil Kithinji: Trust will come through transparency, security and consumer control.
On the technology side, consumers need confidence that AI-powered transactions are protected by strong authentication, tokenisation, real-time fraud monitoring and spending controls.
Equally important is ensuring consumers remain in charge. People should be able to set spending preferences, approve certain categories of purchases and receive transaction notifications whenever AI acts on their behalf.
We’ve seen trust grow before with ecommerce, online banking and mobile money. As security measures become more visible and consumers gain more experience, confidence in AI-assisted commerce is likely to follow.
TechArena: Visa says 37% of Kenyan consumers have experienced scams, with most occurring on social media. What fraud patterns are you seeing today?
Basil Kithinji: Fraud is increasingly following consumers into the platforms where they spend the most time.
Our research found that 37% of Kenyan consumers experienced a financial scam in the past year, while 58% of victims said the scam originated on social media. At the same time, 85% of consumers now shop through social platforms.
Many scams rely on phishing messages that impersonate trusted organisations, government agencies, landlords, schools or even friends. Fraudsters often create urgency by asking victims to pay traffic fines, school fees, rent arrears or parcel delivery charges through fraudulent payment links.
What makes today’s fraud landscape different is that criminals are increasingly exploiting trust rather than technology. As shopping conversations move into chat apps and social platforms, consumers may not have the same verification signals they would expect from a traditional ecommerce website.
The growth of social commerce and the growth of scams are happening at the same time. As digital commerce evolves, trust and security must evolve with it.
TechArena: Are fraud tactics evolving faster than consumer awareness?
Basil Kithinji: Fraud tactics are evolving extremely quickly, especially with AI-generated content and increasingly sophisticated social engineering.
The encouraging news is that consumer awareness is improving too. In Kenya, 82% of respondents believe AI will play an important role in protecting consumers from fraud in the future.
This is a continuous race. Fraudsters are innovating rapidly, but so are financial institutions, payment providers, technology companies and regulators. Consumer education cannot be treated as a one-time exercise—it has to evolve alongside emerging threats.
TechArena: With 85% of consumers shopping through social platforms, has social media become the biggest vulnerability in digital commerce?
Basil Kithinji: Social commerce has become one of the most important developments in digital commerce, but it has also become one of its most significant risk areas.
Social media brings together product discovery, advertising, communication and commerce in one environment. That creates tremendous convenience, but it can also make it harder for consumers to distinguish legitimate sellers from fraudulent ones.
The objective shouldn’t be to slow social commerce down. It should be to ensure trust and security evolve alongside it.
TechArena: The report highlights growing exposure of children to online scams. What practical steps should parents and platforms take?
Basil Kithinji: This was one of the study’s most concerning findings.
Around 81% of Kenyan respondents believe children struggle to recognise scams, while 62% say they know of a child who has fallen victim while gaming or shopping online.
Parents should treat online safety as an ongoing conversation rather than a one-time lesson. Children need to understand how scams work, why people try to manipulate them online and what warning signs to look out for.
Practical steps include using parental controls, supervising access to payment apps and digital wallets, encouraging children to seek adult approval before making purchases and creating an environment where they feel comfortable reporting suspicious interactions.
Platforms also have an important role to play by strengthening age-appropriate protections, improving reporting tools and providing clearer warnings around suspicious activity.
TechArena: Consumers expect governments and payment providers to lead fraud protection. Are regulations keeping pace with AI-driven commerce?
Basil Kithinji: Consumers clearly expect institutions to lead. Nearly half of Kenyan consumers believe governments and regulators should play the primary role in protecting people from online fraud, while many also look to payment providers and financial institutions.
AI is creating new questions around accountability, privacy, data usage and consumer protection.
The most effective approach is one where regulators, financial institutions, payment providers, technology companies and digital platforms work together to manage emerging risks while continuing to support innovation.
TechArena: Visa talks about “agentic commerce.” How close are we to seeing that become mainstream in Africa?
Basil Kithinji: Agentic commerce is moving from concept to reality, but mainstream adoption will depend more on trust than technology.
The technology is advancing quickly, but consumers remain cautious. In Kenya, only 29% currently trust AI to complete checkout on their behalf.
Before agentic commerce becomes mainstream, three things are essential: visible security protections, consumer control through approvals and spending limits, and clear accountability so people understand who is responsible if something goes wrong.
Adoption is likely to happen gradually. Consumers will first allow AI to handle low-risk, routine purchases before extending that trust to higher-value transactions.
“Agentic commerce will depend more on trust than technology.”
TechArena: What’s the biggest misconception consumers have about online fraud today?
Basil Kithinji: One of the biggest misconceptions is that fraud is primarily a technology problem.
In reality, many scams succeed because people are manipulated into taking actions they wouldn’t normally take. That’s why social engineering has become such an effective tactic—it targets trust, urgency and emotion rather than technology itself.
The strongest defence combines advanced security technology with informed and vigilant consumers. Fraud prevention isn’t only about protecting devices or accounts—it’s also about protecting decision-making.
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Also Read: Visa Introduces SDK to Simplify Digital Payment Innovation Across Africa
