Two concurrent forces have managed to transform the world of e-commerce, and possibly forever: the silent impact of AI-based platforms and the noisy influence of the culture of influencers. The genesis behind this research was nothing short of a genuine interest in understanding how the two forces interact and/or oppose each other in determining whether one can buy something online or not, as well as why. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, we discuss the role of AI-enabled touchpoints (chatbot responsiveness, personalized recommendation, dynamic pricing, and intelligent search) as digital stimuli in their ability to operate through a consumer perception of trust and perceived value and finally lead to purchase intention and impulse buying. Our ten hypotheses comprising direct, mediated, and moderated effects are tested using cross-sectional survey of 300 Indian consumers aged 1834 and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0. The results of our study indicate that AI personalization produces the most significant effect on consumer trust ( 0.412, p =.001), and so do influencer authenticity ( 0.368, p =.001). Trust grows to be a complete mediator between AI stimuli and purchase intention, with the perceived value partially mediating both relationships. With a multi-group analysis of urban (n = 168) and rural (n = 132) groups, there is a significant difference between them: urban consumers begin to respond to stimuli driven by trends and subject to FOMO much more, whereas rural consumers respond more to the voices of authentic role models and indicators of affordability. The research not only introduces a multi-touchpoint operationalization of AI to the S-O-R framework but also the first test of urban-rural moderators in Indian e-commerce setting. Digital implications on marketers, platform designers and policy makers are suggested