Agentic AI means letting the AI act on your behalf, whether that’s answering emails or, in the case of online shopping, choosing items and purchasing them for you. You can have multiple agents working on different tasks simultaneously; think of them as the ultimate multitasker.

All of the major AI platforms offer a shopping agent in some form. Microsoft just rolled out Copilot Checkout and Brand Agents to bring this to life, while ChatGPT, Google, and Amazon offer their own versions. The competition is fierce, but success will depend on where the buyers already are. Similarweb’s Global AI Tracker shows ChatGPT with about 68% of AI chatbot web traffic, Google Gemini at 18%, and Copilot stuck in the single digits. However, from the shopper’s perspective, the guidelines for a positive AI shopping experience are the same.

Clear directions from the outset make all the difference, just as you’d brief a personal shopper on your exact needs. Request a good selection: “Show me 15 or more dresses for a winter wedding guest under $200, sorted from simple to fancy.” Require diversity: “Include a mix of brands and at least five options that are not the top�’selling items.” Then hone in: “Tell me more about numbers 3 and 7, and add options with longer sleeves.” Ask the Chatbot to base its choices on your criteria. For clothing, you might specify comfort, natural fabrics and customer reviews; for a laptop: list processor type, memory capacity and any durability or other issues cited in customer reviews. Be sure to ask for shipping charges, warranties, if applicable, and return policies.

In addition to finding items and purchasing them for you, a shopping agent can also apply coupons and monitor prices on as many items as you’d like. You can instruct it to buy an item when it reaches a specified price point. It can auto�’reorder staples (detergent, pet food, skincare) on a schedule or when you say “I’m running low, find the best deal from my usual brands.” If you use auto�’reordering, review your list regularly so you don’t end up paying for things you no longer use or that have gone up in price.

All of this sounds great: the drudgery of everyday shopping can be handled by an agent, leaving you more time to do other things. However, that idyllic vision isn’t quite ready for reality. AI still makes mistakes. These systems also learn from your requests and purchase history, so you should only share information you’re comfortable having stored and used to shape future suggestions.

For now, it’s best to use it to make recommendations based on your preferences, summarize reviews and translate jargon into plain language when necessary. Keep the purchasing decision for yourself, and augment the process by spot-checking prices on websites and reading over independent reviews.

With the push for in�’chat AI shopping, comes ads. Just as regular search results and social media feeds include sponsored products, AI shopping assistants will also show paid suggestions inside your conversation. In some cases, a company pays to have its product appear near the top of the list or in a special “card” with a picture and price. That doesn’t mean those products are bad, but it does mean you should ask the assistant to clearly label which results are sponsored and which are not. You can also ask it to show you several non�’sponsored alternatives so you’re not only looking at paid placements.

Some services, like the free version of ChatGPT, are starting to test ads directly in the chat window, while paid subscribers are promised no ads, much like the difference between free and premium streaming services. No matter which assistant you use, it’s smart to treat ads as one more piece of information, and still compare prices and read independent reviews before you buy.

Leslie Meredith has been writing about technology for more than a decade. As a mom of four, value, usefulness and online safety take priority. Have a question? Email Leslie at asklesliemeredith@gmail.com