The percentage of Americans living paycheck to paycheck is soaring, and it’s no wonder why.
Grocery prices continue to climb. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates staples like coffee and beef and veal experienced double-digit year-over-year price increases in recent months. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports several other food categories also “experienced large price increases,” and the USDA expects grocery prices to rise even further in 2026.
Americans are also grappling with mounting healthcare costs, and it’s only getting worse. The new year is bringing steeper-than-usual hikes in health insurance premiums for Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollees and Medicare beneficiaries. Many healthcare insurance providers are also increasing premiums. Overall, the cost of healthcare in America is expected to rise 6-7% in 2026.
At the same time, U.S. residents are facing a housing affordability crisis.
In this era of the stretched consumer, every dollar counts.
This may explain why more people are adopting AI agents to handle their digital chores and save money. In the process, consumers are saving time – and avoiding the complexity and frustration often required to cancel a subscription service, get a refund or resolve a complex bill.
New data reveals where and why consumers are using AI agents to relieve cost pressures
To better understand how and where people are using vertical AI agents, we analyzed our 2025 data and introduced the Consumer Friction Index. It identifies the top companies people use Pine for most to lower bills, seek compensation, cancel subscriptions, correct delivery problems and address other issues. Xfinity, AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum and T-Mobile topped the Consumer Friction Index. Chase, Amazon, Netflix, GEICO, Delta, United and Progressive also made the list.
This recently released Consumer Friction Index indicates that communications services and insurance are the top two areas in which consumers are seeking help to lower their bills.
- 83% of user interactions involving Xfinity – the “top” company on our new Consumer Friction Index – focused on bill negotiation.
- 80% of interactions related to AT&T – #2 on the Index – were for bill negotiation.
- The vast majority of prompts related to Spectrum (82%), Verizon (75%) and T-Mobile (64%) also came from people seeking to lower their communications bills.
- Most GEICO- and Progressive-related prompts involved lowering insurance bills.
A growing number of consumers are also turning to digital agents to seek compensation.
- More than half of prompts related to Chase were requests for compensation.
- That was also the case for users leveraging the Pine AI agent to interact with Amazon.
- Compensation was the top use case for Delta, United and American prompts, signaling that consumers understand there are rules that may make them eligible for a refund if they’re bumped for a flight (up to $2,150) or their bag is lost (up to $4,700). But people clearly need help from a built-for-purpose AI agent to get the money they are owed.
Canceling streaming services is another way many consumers are looking to uncover savings
When consumers want to save money, they also often seek to cut back on their subscriptions.
This makes sense, considering that streaming services are getting more expensive all the time.
The fact that 80% of prompts relating to Netflix involved cancellation requests indicates people want to unload subscriptions to save money, but they don’t want to invest hours to cancel such services. Many consumers also want to cancel gym memberships and monthly communication services subscriptions, but they may be reticent to jump through the hoops that requires.
Smart consumers are increasingly calling on an AI agent to do the job.
AI agents are saving consumers money and empowering people to do more with less
The bottom line? Consumers no longer need to continue paying for unwanted services or spending hours trying to navigate complicated systems to get back the money they are owed. A designed-for-purpose AI agent can do time-consuming digital chores and save people money.
Our experience indicates that, with a trusted AI agent, customers can lower their bills an average of $400 – and sometimes even more. One customer leveraged an AI agent to save $1,800 on their AT&T fiber bill. Another used an AI agent to save $1,900 on their car insurance.
But it’s not just budget-conscious consumers who can benefit from AI agents; small and medium business leaders can leverage them, too. With an AI agent as your executive assistant, you can take on more work without adding overhead, and you can complete that work in far less time.
People are adapting to a new way of getting the job done – and saving money in the process
Whether you’re a top business leader or an average consumer, chances are excellent that you find yourself inundated with a barrage of daily priorities, small decisions and tedious tasks. Most people aren’t good at juggling all of these arduous details, and most of us simply don’t want to.
This is prompting people to adopt new tools to save them significant time and money.
Many tools have popped up in recent years to help people save, be more efficient and be free to focus on what matters most. Don’t let that overwhelm you. Try different options. Find the tools that fit you best. Then begin enjoying the savings and efficiencies these new tools can deliver.
