Major e-commerce and artificial intelligence giants are now racing to develop autonomous AI agents capable of shopping like humans. The AI-driven shopping service created by Amazon.com has already achieved a level of popularity significant enough to squeeze the survival space of other retailers—a clear sign that Amazon is seizing the initiative in this emerging market.
Earlier this week, a feature launched by Amazon sparked strong discontent among some small retailers. This feature displays certain products in Amazon's search results, even if those items are not sold directly by Amazon. Some merchants protested, claiming that Amazon included their products in listings without permission, with the purchase links originating from an Amazon feature called "Buy with Me." Amazon stated that this feature relies on an AI agent to complete the shopping process on behalf of Amazon consumers on other platforms.
Some retailers interviewed this week expressed the belief that Amazon is using AI robots or web crawlers to scrape their product information for display on its platform, an approach that sometimes leads to issues, such as presenting consumers with outdated product details. (Amazon responded by stating that retailers can opt out of the "Buy with Me" feature at any time and that the function is still in a testing phase, designed to help merchants reach more new customers.)
It is noteworthy that the strategy Amazon insists on pursuing is precisely the path that other e-commerce and AI companies have largely abandoned. Last spring, following the launch of browser agents by OpenAI and Google, many developers and merchants envisioned a future where personal shopping agents could browse various websites and place orders like humans. However, implementing this vision proved far more challenging than anticipated: many websites identify such agents as bots and block them, while the few that bypass these blocks struggle to accurately complete the purchasing process.
Recently, OpenAI has been focusing on launching a checkout feature within the ChatGPT platform, positioning it as an automated intelligent tool. Unlike the model of directly scraping data from retail websites, ChatGPT primarily coordinates product data and order information between various applications and retailers through existing systems like application programming interfaces (APIs).
Currently, retailers must apply proactively to participate in the pilot for this feature. Although OpenAI has partnered with payment service provider Stripe and e-commerce software giant Shopify to launch this checkout capability, the rollout has been very slow. As reported earlier today, these two companies announced last September that millions of merchants would soon be integrated with ChatGPT's shopping features, but they are still resolving a series of challenges related to product data and payment processes stemming from the application of AI technology.
On one hand, the cautious approach of OpenAI and its partners is reasonable—after all, transaction errors by AI shopping tools could simultaneously provoke dissatisfaction from both consumers and retailers. On the other hand, Amazon's "Buy with Me" feature is targeting the core business area of Shopify: small and medium-sized independent online retailers that are not on the Amazon platform. The gradual, step-by-step partnership chosen by OpenAI and Shopify might risk losing market share to Amazon, especially in the early stages of the market when consumers are not yet fully accustomed to AI shopping models.
Meanwhile, Amazon has taken a hardline stance against other AI search tools and applications that display Amazon products in their search results. The e-commerce giant has not only blocked the bots and agents of most major AI companies from accessing its platform but has also begun cracking down on various small and medium-sized AI applications—even if those applications ultimately direct users to complete their transactions on Amazon.
The experiences of OpenAI and Amazon fully demonstrate that the process of developing new e-commerce features is fraught with challenges. In this race to win the favor of both consumers and merchants, all parties face immense pressure and an urgent need to identify the strategic path that will secure market victory.
Dell: Consumers Don't Care About AI PCs Dell was once one of the active proponents of AI PCs. These computers are equipped with specialized AI chips called Neural Processing Units (NPUs), enabling functions like text summarization and image generation. Now, however, this computer manufacturer has changed its tune.
Unlike most of its peers, Dell did not heavily promote the AI capabilities of its products at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Kevin Tewellig, Head of Product for Dell's PC business, stated in an interview with PC Gamer magazine that the company found consumers aren't particularly concerned about whether their computers have built-in AI features.
Meanwhile, manufacturers like Lenovo, HP, Acer, and Asus continued to prominently feature their latest AI PCs at the Consumer Electronics Show. These computers can run AI models locally without needing to upload data to the cloud, potentially improving performance, extending battery life, and enhancing the security of sensitive data.
Dell's decision is sensible and could help it achieve a competitive differentiation. A major criticism of AI PCs is that standard AI chatbots can perform many of the same tasks without requiring users to purchase new hardware. While AI PCs might appeal to business users reluctant to send data to the cloud, most average consumers do not share such concerns.
Currently, marketing related to artificial intelligence is ubiquitous, having become a staple of televised sports broadcasts alongside ads for Viagra and beer. It's likely that many working professionals (with the exception of programmers) have now realized that the actual capabilities of AI fall far short of the levels hyped by marketing campaigns.
In the past, computer manufacturers often leveraged each new version of Microsoft's Windows operating system to incentivize consumers to buy new machines. However, with the rise of mobile internet, the influence of Windows has significantly waned, which prompted Dell and its competitors to jump on the AI bandwagon two years ago.
