In recent months, Google has promised to inject generative AI into the online shopping experience, and now it’s following through. The previously announced shopping features of AI Mode search are rolling out, and Gemini will also worm its way into Google’s forgotten Duplex automated phone call tech. It’s all coming in time for the holidays to allegedly make your gifting more convenient and also conveniently ensure that Google gets a piece of the action.
At Google I/O in May, the company announced its intention to bring conversational shopping to AI Mode. According to Google, its enormous “Shopping Graph” or retailer data means its AI is uniquely positioned to deliver useful suggestions. In the coming weeks, users in the US will be able to ask AI Mode complex questions about what to buy, and it will deliver suggestions, guides, tables, and other generated content to help you decide. And since this is gen AI, it comes with the usual disclaimers about possible mistakes.
AI Mode shopping features.
AI Mode shopping features.
You’re probably wondering if there will be sponsored shopping content in these experiences, and that’s a big yes. Google says some of the content that appears in AI Mode will be ads, just like if you look up shopping results in a traditional search. Shopping features are also coming to the Gemini app, but Google says it won’t have sponsored content in the results for the time being.
Google is also releasing a feature called “agentic checkout,” a term used only in passing when the company announced the feature alongside AI Mode shopping at I/O. Google is really leaning into the agentic angle now, though. The gist is you can set a price threshold for a product in search, and Google will let you know if the item reaches that price. That part isn’t new, but there’s now an AI twist. After getting the alert, you can authorize an automatic purchase with Google Pay. However, it’s currently only supported at a handful of retailers like Chewy, Wayfair, and some Shopify merchants. It’s not clear whether this qualifies as agentic anything, but it might save you some money regardless.
