This holiday season, many Americans are getting ready to shop online for gifts by opening their laptops. However, instead of doing the shopping themselves, some tech companies are trying to hand over the task to artificial intelligence (AI) agents.
One such company, Perplexity, has recently introduced an AI shopping agent for its paying customers in the U.S. This AI agent is designed to browse retail websites for you, find the products you want, and even handle the checkout process on your behalf. While Perplexity may be one of the first major startups to offer this service, other companies have been working on similar technologies for some time. In fact, we can expect to see more AI shopping agents in 2025, with companies like OpenAI and Google reportedly developing their own versions that could help with purchasing things like flights and hotel bookings. It’s also likely that Amazon will improve its AI chatbot, Rufus, to assist with online checkouts, given that millions of people already use Amazon to search for products.
To make these AI shopping agents work effectively, tech companies are using a combination of new techniques and established methods to bypass the security measures retailers have in place to prevent unwanted automated bots from accessing their websites. For example, Rabbit, another tech company, recently launched a tool called LAM Playground that allows an AI agent to navigate websites on your behalf using a computer located in a data center. Similarly, Anthropic has developed a computer agent that operates directly on your personal computer.
Perplexity is also teaming up with Stripe, a popular payment processing company, to utilize some of Stripe’s existing payment features in a new way for AI agents. Stripe is providing Perplexity’s AI agent with single-use debit cards, which means the AI can make purchases online without needing access to your entire bank account. This is a safety measure that ensures if the AI makes a mistake (for example, buying the wrong item), it only spends a small amount of money instead of a large sum.
However, Google’s AI shopping agent reportedly requires access to your credit card information, which might make some consumers uncomfortable. On the other hand, companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, and Shopify already have your billing information saved and often fill out forms for you when you shop online. This could give these companies an advantage as they develop their AI shopping agents.
These AI tools have the potential to change online shopping significantly, which may not sit well with retailers and advertisers who currently benefit from the existing system. Just as AI chatbots have been useful in helping people find hard-to-locate information, AI shopping agents could assist in discovering products or deals that you might not find on your own. In theory, these tools could save you a lot of time when booking a cheap flight or finding a great birthday gift for someone.
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However, there is still a long way to go before AI agents can handle all your holiday shopping needs, but many companies are competing to make this a reality.
Testing Perplexity’s Shopping Agent
When TechCrunch tested Perplexity’s shopping agent, they found that it took a long time to process purchases and sometimes couldn’t complete them at all. Overall, using the agent seemed more complicated than simply buying something on Amazon.
Perplexity mentioned that they have human checkers involved to ensure the AI agent is functioning correctly. This practice of having humans oversee AI processes is common in the industry, but it raises some privacy concerns, especially since these human checkers may be able to see the items you are purchasing and your billing address.
In one test, TechCrunch asked the Perplexity shopping agent to buy toothpaste. The agent provided several options from retailers like Walmart and Amazon. After selecting a tube of Crest from Walmart and trying to check out through the Perplexity app, the payment went to Perplexity instead of Walmart. However, three hours later, Perplexity notified them that the toothpaste was sold out at Walmart. The next day, after trying again, the purchase was completed, but it took eight hours.
The confusion arose because Perplexity’s agent seems to be gathering information from retailers’ websites and providing product details. This process isn’t always in real-time, which can lead to discrepancies between what the agent tells you and what is actually available in stores.
Perplexity did not clarify whether retailers like Walmart were aware that their products were being listed on its app, which suggests that the way the agent gathers and purchases items might not be officially authorized by those companies. This could create challenges when it comes to buying or returning products.
When you check out through Perplexity’s app, you are not directly buying anything. Instead, you are paying Perplexity for the item and instructing its AI agent to purchase it for you while filling in your name and shipping address. After some time, the agent attempts to complete the purchase.
This process is similar to giving a small amount of money to a personal assistant and telling them how they can spend it. However, unlike a human assistant who you might trust to make purchases on their own, Perplexity’s AI sometimes requires human oversight to ensure everything goes smoothly.
The Future of AI Shopping Agents
If AI shopping agents become more common, it could mean fewer people visiting online stores directly, which is where retailers typically make extra sales by suggesting additional products or encouraging impulse buys. It may also mean that advertisers lose valuable insights about shoppers, making it harder to target them with ads for other products.
Because of this, retailers and advertisers are unlikely to let AI agents disrupt their businesses without a fight. That’s why companies like Rabbit and Anthropic are training AI
