Amazon announced the initiation of testing a new AI shopping agent, termed “Buy for Me,” with a select group of users as detailed in a blog post on Thursday. This feature allows users to view and purchase products from other websites through the Amazon Shopping app if the desired item is unavailable directly from Amazon.
With this launch, Amazon joins other tech companies like OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity, which have also developed AI shopping agents capable of navigating websites to assist users in making purchases. Although Amazon is already a primary platform for online shopping, the introduction of “Buy for Me” is anticipated to increase its e-commerce market reach.
Amazon’s AI shopping agent operates by visiting external websites to select and purchase user-requested products, utilizing the user’s personal details such as name, shipping address, and payment information according to Amazon’s description. The feature is powered by Amazon’s Nova AI models alongside Anthropic’s Claude, with Nova Act being one such AI agent recently introduced by Amazon for autonomous website navigation.
To ensure secure transactions, the “Buy for Me” feature employs encryption to insert billing details on third-party sites without compromising customer privacy by preventing Amazon from accessing external order information. This approach contrasts with the methods of OpenAI and Google, where human input is required for credit card details, and Perplexity’s AI, which uses a prepaid debit card for transactions.
There are potential concerns as users must entrust their credit card information to AI—a technology known for occasional errors and delays. Observations, such as those reported by TechCrunch, highlight issues like lengthy processing times and the AI potentially encountering processing challenges.
Amazon is essentially relying on users to trust the agent not to make mistakes, such as purchasing larger quantities than intended, and to adapt to a diminished sense of control over the shopping process. In instances where returns or exchanges are necessary, customers will be directed to the original digital storefront facilitated by the AI purchase.
The forthcoming period will reveal the extent of user acceptance and trust in this innovative shopping solution.