Consumers are not deciding whether to trust AI agents in absolute terms; they are setting conditions for delegation. Drawing on a survey of 1,050 consumers across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, this article examines how approval steps, spending limits, verified identity and human escalation shape trust, and why the winning agentic products will be those that make autonomy bounded, transparent and recoverable when mistakes happen.

AI agents are moving consumers beyond simple assistance towards delegated action, but adoption is not progressing at the same speed. Blackbox research across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan shows that consumers are increasingly comfortable using AI to inform decisions, while remaining more cautious about allowing it to act autonomously. The real adoption challenge lies in permission, control and trust.

The Blackbox CX Playbook 2026 explores how brands can turn customer experience research into sharper decisions, stronger loyalty and more connected journeys across digital, human and AI-enabled touchpoints.

A missed campaign costs more than media spend. It costs time, production budget, and the market window a brand cannot get back. Across Asia, Blackbox has seen the same creative research failures repeat: testing happens too late, the tools are too blunt, and the questions measure the wrong things. This piece breaks down three common mistakes in creative testing and the sharper questions brands should be asking before campaigns go live.

Social commerce is not replacing marketplaces, stores or search. It is changing the sequence of how consumers notice, evaluate and buy. Drawing on Blackbox’s SensingSG data, this perspective explores how TikTok Shop fits into a wider handoff economy, where discovery, trust, price, convenience and availability all shape whether attention becomes purchase.

SensingSG’s Q1 2026 data shows that Singaporeans continue to back the country’s overall direction, with 89% saying it is on the right track. Yet beneath that headline resilience, household sentiment is weakening fast. Economic pessimism has doubled in a single quarter, personal finance confidence has slipped to a two-year low, and the impact of global price shocks is beginning to register more sharply in daily life.

Power Plays (New Report)
Southeast Asia’s AI race will not be won by talent alone, but by the markets that can secure power, grid resilience, and carbon credibility at scale. As data centre demand accelerates towards a 6.5 GW regional ceiling by 2030, Power Plays shows how energy availability, regulatory design, and geopolitical positioning are fast becoming the real determinants of digital leadership.

High-impact market research requires more than accurate data; it demands strategic storytelling. In Asia’s complex business landscape, insights often fail because they are designed for researchers rather than decision-makers. Blackbox bridges this gap by prioritizing context and executive-ready visualization. We utilize three specific principles to convert market intelligence into high-velocity business results, preventing insights from becoming obsolete.

Retail Realities (New Report)
The battle for the Singaporean shopper is no longer about convenience alone. In an era of algorithmic efficiency and digital fatigue, physical retail’s greatest advantage is not speed — but certainty, atmosphere, and belonging. The mall of the future is not a warehouse of transactions, but a Third Space where people go to verify, to linger, and to exist beyond the screen.

With the April 2026 launch of the National Space Agency of Singapore (NSAS), the city-state is positioning to capture a share of the projected US$1.8 trillion global space economy. Rather than pursuing vertical launch competition, Singapore is leveraging its logistics heritage and engineering base to focus on niche orbital services and geospatial analytics. This pragmatic strategy aims to establish a world-class "SG-Space" brand within the decade.

Is your strategy ready for the "Year of the Horse"? Blackbox CEO David Black identifies eight signals reshaping Singapore's communications landscape—from Chinese brand dominance and AI disruption to healthcare anxieties and PR-IR convergence. The mandate: transform from message carrier to strategic interpreter in 2026.

In a fragmenting world, Lee Kuan Yew’s principles have evolved from lived memory into Singapore’s "active DNA". While most citizens now view his legacy as more significant than a decade ago, this is not a slide into nostalgia or personality cults. Instead, Singaporeans are using LKY’s core virtues — foresight, meritocracy, and discipline — as a moral yardstick to scrutinize the performance of current leadership.

Drawing on original data from Blackbox’s SensingSG, this essay by David Black explores how LKY's "operating philosophy" serves as a global benchmark for governance.