Key Takeaways
- AI shopping agents may revolutionize the online shopping experience.
- Tech companies, like Perplexity and Google, are developing AI shopping agents.
- Challenges tech companies will need to address are the safety and security of personal information, like credit card details.
With the holiday season fast approaching and Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 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, AI technology could drasatically change online shopping as we know it today.
Imagine sitting in front of an AI chatbot and 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 showcased a computer agent that browses and uses your computer for you. Perplexity recently released its own AI shopping agent in the U.S. Plus, Google and OpenAI are reportedly developing its own AI shopping agents too (via TechCrunch).
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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Perplexity’s AI agent does all the work for you
Perplexity currently has its own AI shopping agent available 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 (via TechCrunch).
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.
Tech companies that already handle this information will have an advantage
According to The 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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