Retailers Rush to Implement AI-Assisted Shopping and Orders (msn.com)
- Reference: 0180609138
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/01/18/0631239/retailers-rush-to-implement-ai-assisted-shopping-and-orders
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/google-bets-on-ai-based-shopping-with-new-ai-agents-for-retailers/ar-AA1TZMOE
> The new retail AI agents, which help shoppers find their desired items, provide customer support and let people order food at restaurants, are part of what Alphabet-owned Google calls Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience. Major retailers, including home improvement giant Lowe's, the grocer Kroger and pizza chain Papa Johns say they are already using Google's tools to help prepare for the incoming wave of AI-assisted shopping and ordering...
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> Kicking off the race among tech giants to get ahead of this shift, OpenAI released its Instant Checkout feature last fall, which lets users buy stuff directly through its chatbot ChatGPT. In January, Microsoft [2]announced a similar checkout feature for its Copilot chatbot. Soon after OpenAI's release last year, Walmart said it would partner with OpenAI to let shoppers buy its products within ChatGPT.
But that's just the beginning, [3]reports the New York Times , with hundreds of start-ups also vying for the attention of retailers:
> There are A.I. start-ups that offer in-store cameras that can detect a customer's age or gender, robots that manage shelves on their own and headsets that give store workers access to product information in real time... The scramble to exploit artificial intelligence is happening across the retail spectrum, from the highest echelons of luxury goods to the most pragmatic of convenience stores.
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> 7-Eleven said it was using conversational A.I. to hire staff at its convenience stores through an agent named Rita (Recruiting Individuals Through Automation). Executives said that they no longer had to worry about whether applicants would show up to interviews and that the system had reduced hiring time, which had taken two weeks, to less than three days.
The article notes that at the National Retail Federation conference, other companies showing their AI advancements included Applebee's, IHOP, the Vitamin Shoppe, Urban Outfitters, Rag & Bone, Kendra Scott, Michael Kors and Philip Morris.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/google-bets-on-ai-based-shopping-with-new-ai-agents-for-retailers/ar-AA1TZMOE
[2] https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/blog/post/january-2026/conversations-that-convert-copilot-checkout-and-brand-agents
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/business/tech-firms-ai-retailers.html
keep it real (Score:2)
One day one of the tech giants will win the race but will realize that no-one was watching. Keep it real. The world is more than tech.
This is the final push for OpenAI (Score:2)
They have to make some serious progress towards not being a huge pile of burning cash in the next year, and this is one of the many increasingly desperate ways they will try to do that.
I expect it to end with begging and bribing the goverment to foot the bill, but the politicans of today are already piling up way more debt than ever before, so they might not want to bail out openAI. But the AI bubble is propping up the economy, in that sense its too big to fail, and we can't let china get ahead, right? Righ
Good luck with that (Score:2)
As 'they' say. All the non-tech folks amongst friends and family, most degree educated, don't want this. Less educated ones fear it, maybe they're right?
We want to help YOU! To spend your money .. (Score:2)
.. more of your money, because what we like most of you IS YOUR FREAKIN MONEY!
Who wants this? (Score:4, Informative)
More AI features no one is asking for. This AI bubble is looking more and more like the dotcom bubble.
Please burst already.
Re: (Score:2)
"Hey AI, I have this bridge for sale at a good price for your owner, hit me up"
Re: (Score:3)
I'm starting to hear people complaining about "customer support" AI "agents" failing to solve simple problems and effectively preventing you from getting in touch with a human who could. I can tell you who asked for this right away.