We surveyed 500 retail media decision-makers on how much control they've given AI and whether they'd know if it went wrong.

• 88.7% of buyers say they could defend an AI decision to leadership. 49.7% have already had one they couldn't justify.

• Two in three buyers relying on last-click attribution report a negative outcome from an AI decision.

• Getting burned hasn't made anyone cautious. Burned buyers are 67% more likely to expect AI moving budget with no approval within a year.

• Buyers want AI optimizing toward incremental ROI over last-touch ROAS by more than 2.5 to 1, and the sell side agrees.