With theholiday seasonfast approaching andBlack Friday and Cyber Mondayin the rearview mirror, millions of consumers in the U.S. and worldwide have or will be spending a lot of money online. In the future,AItechnology could drasatically change online shopping as we know it today.
Imagine sitting in front of anAI chatbotand asking it to research and buy you gifts for your loved ones. With all the advancements in AI in the past few years, it’s not hard to imagine. Earlier this year,Anthropic showcaseda computer agent that browses and uses your computer for you.Perplexityrecently released its own AI shopping agent in the U.S. Plus, Google and OpenAI are reportedly developing its own AI shopping agents too (viaTechCrunch).
Tech companies are already developing or investing in AI shopping agents, and the status quo for online shopping could signicantly change over the next few years and into the 2030s.
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How does an AI shopping agent work?
Perplexity’s AI agent does all the work for you
Perplexity currently has its ownAI shopping agentavailable for use today with its Perplexity Pro premium subscription. The AI chatbot lets you research products you’re looking for and buy them right through its app, with Perplexity handling purchasing and confirming the order for you.
However, it could take hours for Perplexity to process the order. You’re not the one technically buying it, either. You’re giving Perplexity the money, and it’s taking your information and buying it on your behalf (viaTechCrunch).
This leads to an important question: What happens to your credit card information? Perplexity has partnered with Stripe to issue single-use debit cards to its AI agent so that it can’t spend all your money on your debit or credit card in error. But other tech companies will likely take a different approach.
Safeguards will need to be in place for AI shopping
Tech companies that already handle this information will have an advantage
According toThe Information, Google’s AI shopping agent could reportedly require access to your credit card information.
The biggest hurdles tech companies could face with having consumers use AI shopping agents is the safety and security of their personal information. Big players, like Google, Amazon or Apple, already have a lot of this information from you on file, which could give them an advantage in making consumers feel safe spending their hard-earned money through an AI chatbot.
Right now, it seems easier to just go to an online retailer and buy what you need for yourself, but in the future, with tech companies developing and improving AI shopping agents, shopping as we know it could change forever.
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