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AI could be your next shopping partner

Agents say they're lighten purchasing load - if they can earn your trust

By: Tamilla Triantoro
Quinniplac University
The Conversation

..... Online shopping often involves endless options and fleeting discounts. A single search for running shoes can yield hundreds of results across multiple platforms, each promising the "best deal." The holiday seasons brings excitement, but it also brings a blend of decision fatigue and logistical nightmares.
..... What if there were a tool capable of hunting for the best process, navigating endless sales and making sure your purchases arrive on time?
..... The next evolution in artificial intelligence is AI agents that are capable of autonomous reasoning and multi-step problem-solving. AI shopping agents not only suggest what you might like, but they can also act on your behalf.
.... Major retailers and AI companies are developing AI shopping assistants, and the AI company Perplexity released Buy with Pro on November 18. [2024]
..... Picture this: You prompt AI to find a winter coat for less than $200 that's highly rated and will arrive by Sunday. In seconds, it scans websites, compares prices, checks reviews, confirms availability and places the order, all while you go about you day.
..... Unlike traditions recommendation engines, AI agents learn your preferences and handle tasks autonomously. The agent are built with machine learning and natural language processing
..... They learn from their interactions with the people using them and become smarter and more efficient over time form their collective interactions.
..... Looking ahead, AI agents are likely to not only master personal shopping needs but also negotiate directly with corporate AI systems. They will not only learn your preferences but will likely be able to book tailored experiences, handle payments across platforms and coordinate schedules.
..... As a researcher who studies human AI collaboration, I see how AI agents could make the future of shopping virtually effortless and more personalize than ever.

HOW AI agents help shoppers

..... Marketplace such as Amazon and Walmart have been suing AI to automate shopping. Google Lens offers a visual search tool for finding products.
..... Perplexity's Buy with Pro is a more powerful AI shopping agent. By providing your shipping and billing information, you can placed orders directly on the Perplexity App with free shipping on every order.
..... The shopping assistant is part of the company's Perplexity Pro service, which has free and paid tiers.
..... For those looking to build custom AI shopping agents, AutoGPT and AgentGPT are open-source tools for configuring and deploying AI agents.

How AI reshapes business

..... AI agents are moving beyond recommendations to autonomously executing complex task such as automating refunds, managing inventory and approving pricing decisions. This evolution has already begun to reshape how businesses operate and how consumers interact with them.
..... Retailers using AI agents are seeing measurable benefits. Since October, [2024 data from the Salesforce shopping index reveals that digital retailers using generated AI achieve a 7% increase in average order revenue and attributed 17% of global orders to AI-driven personalized recommendations, targeted promotions and improve customer service.

What's next?

..... AI-based shopping is still in its infancy, so how much trust should you place in ti?
..... In our book "Converging Minds," AI researcher Aleksandra Przegalinska and I argue for a balance and critical approach to AI adoption, recognizing both its potential and its pitfalls.
..... As cognitive scientist Gary Marcus points out, AI's moral limitations stem from technical constraints: Despite efforts to rpevent errors, these stems remain imperfect.

..... The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.

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