Ron Johnson, who built Apple's retail store network starting in 2000, says he doesn't believe AI shopping agents will fundamentally change how people buy products. He argues that for significant purchases like laptops, consumers still want to physically handle items rather than let an AI complete the transaction, even as companies like Google and OpenAI push tools that let agents research, compare, and buy on a shopper's behalf.
A group of U.S. senators has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether shopping bots and AI systems used by Walmart and Amazon are misrepresenting products as 'Made in America.' The request comes alongside other regulatory shifts, including a U.S. regulator giving tokenized stocks initial approval and credit card firms building AI agents to handle consumer purchases on shoppers' behalf.
Mastercard has signed a new deal aimed at letting AI-driven shopping agents complete purchases using customer payment credentials. The move comes as rivals Visa and American Express are also preparing their own systems to support autonomous, AI-powered shopping bots.
Shipt, Target's same-day delivery service, rolled out an AI tool called Ask Shipt that converts written prompts or photos into ready-to-checkout shopping carts. Customers can request carts based on occasions like tailgates or school lunches, or set a budget, such as a weeknight dinner for five under $35. The tool can also identify ingredients from a photo of a dish and add them to a cart automatically.
Apple has started an early preview of a new AI-powered virtual shopping assistant inside the Apple Store app for iPhone and iPad, replacing the search icon with a chat interface. The assistant can answer questions about products, trade-in values, carrier offers, and monthly payment plans, though only select users currently have access.
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