Walmart has partnered with OpenAI to make its products, as well as those from its Sam’s Club wholesale warehouse, available for purchase within ChatGPT. The AI-first shopping experience is designed to shift the purchasing interface “from reactive to proactive as it learns, plans and predicts, helping customers anticipate their needs,” according to Walmart. The transition is expected to take place over the next few months, allowing customers to purchase nearly every product on the Walmart and Sam’s Club websites through the chatbot, except for fresh food. Benefits like points and free shipping will continue to apply. Continue reading Walmart Making Products Available for Purchase via ChatGPT

DirecTV is bringing user interaction to its screensavers, which will offer things like shoppable ads, powered by generative AI shopping platform firm Glance AI. The experience will begin rolling out next year to DirecTV subscribers using Google Gemini TV devices. Glance AI says it developed the technology in conjunction with Google. Among the uses are “creating an AI feed of your favorite sports leagues on your idle-screens or helping your kids discover their next dream vacation.” Overall, Glance AI on TV will offer users the opportunity “to engage with content from hundreds of top American brands and millions of catalogs.” Continue reading DirecTV Partnering with Glance AI for Interactive Screensavers

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is expanding its functionality to include in-app shopping. The new feature, called Instant Checkout, is powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol developed by OpenAI and Stripe. ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Free users in the U.S. can now buy products conversationally, starting with domestic Etsy sellers. Shopify’s merchants will be added soon, with plans to ramp up to “more than a million” of the e-commerce platform’s clients, including Glossier, Spanx and Vuori. The move lays the groundwork for OpenAI’s segue to agentic shopping. Instant Checkout currently supports only single-item purchases, with multi-item carts coming soon, according to OpenAI. Continue reading OpenAI ‘Instant Checkout’ Adds In-App Shopping to ChatGPT

Google is rolling out “Gemini in Chrome” to U.S. Mac and Windows desktop users. Business users will get it in the weeks to come, as will Android and iOS mobile devices. The immediate change integrates “Google AI into Chrome across multiple levels so it can better anticipate your needs, help you understand more complex information, and make you more productive when you browse the web.” There are a number of safety features that leverage AI to combat scams and handle things like automatic password resets. And Gemini in Chrome will soon be able to recall websites previously visited without requiring you to scroll through your browsing history. An agentic browsing assistant is also in the works. Continue reading Google Adds Gemini AI Assistant to Chrome Browser in U.S.

Pinterest has added multiple “where-to-buy” options it says make it easier for consumers to shop with Pins. This new menu of links allows brand advertisers to drive potential customers to a selection of purchase sites instead of a single source, surfacing multiple in-stock retailer options for a product directly from an ad. Pinterest claims the new presentation format offers richer purchase data and new CPG opportunities. Advertisers will no longer face the “tough choice” of directing shoppers to a retail site for a familiar purchase experience but losing valuable insights or linking to their own site and sacrificing lower-funnel performance. Continue reading Pinterest Says Where-to-Buy Links Add Richer Purchase Data

Amazon has introduced Lens Live, an AI-powered update to the Amazon Lens shopping tool. The app, which works in concert with Amazon’s Rufus shopping assistant, uses smartphone cameras much like Google Lens does with visual search. Pinterest Lens is another such app. But the purpose-built Rufus ties it even more closely to the shopping experience with instant scanning, real-time product matches and insights from Rufus. Lens Live is already available to tens of millions of U.S. users on iOS in the Amazon Shopping app with plans to roll out to all U.S. customers in the coming months. Continue reading Amazon’s Lens Live Brings Real-Time AI Shopping to Mobile

Orlando, Florida-based digital distribution company FreeCast is launching Test Drive Live, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel that is also shoppable. The idea is to offer telecoms and ISPs the ability to offer “monetizable video” without requiring substantive infrastructure and hardware investments, FreeCast explains. Test Drive Live will be offered via FreeCast’s own streaming platform and through Roku. The company says that through FreeCast, Test Drive Live will be immediately available on Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Apple TV, Xbox, iOS, Android, Windows, Mac “and most streaming devices.” Continue reading Test Drive Live: FreeCast Rolls Out Shoppable FAST Channel

Amazon warehouses and fulfillment centers will soon have as many robots as human employees reading destination labels, packing orders and loading conveyor belts. Amazon serves 310 million customers worldwide, using various robot configurations to aid 1.56 million employees to process and deliver inventory and handle other businesses. Now the company has delivered its one millionth robot, to a facility in Japan. With artificial intelligence making a beeline toward white-collar work and warehouse robots poised to elbow aside manual laborers, global economics could shift on the practices of this company alone. Continue reading Amazon Deploys Millionth Factory Robot, Workforce Shrinks

Google Labs is testing Doppl, an experimental app that uses AI to let you virtually try on clothes. Available on iOS and Android in the U.S., Doppl requires the user to upload a full body photo to which images of outfits can then be applied. It will work with various types of outfit photos, from pictures taken with a smartphone to screen grabs from shopping sites or social media. Doppl can also create AI-generated videos from a static image to give an idea of what the outfit would look like from different angles when worn. While Google hopes Doppl “helps you explore your style in new and exciting ways,” it cautions that the app “is in its early days and it might not always get things right.” Continue reading Google Doppl Lets You Try on Outfits Using Generative Video

YouTube is adding an AI-powered search results carousel that serves up video suggestions and topic descriptions. A search for “best beaches in Hawaii,” for example, could generate a carousel listing video clips and information on an assortment of snorkel spots and volcanic beaches. YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S. can try the feature now on searches related to shopping, travel or location-based activities. The Google-owned platform is also expanding its test with conversational AI to some non-Premium users in the U.S. Premium members have been using it for search, recommendations and as a study aid. Continue reading YouTube Adds AI Search Results Carousel for Premium Subs

TikTok is reporting that TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales have increased 120 percent in 2025 compared to the same period last year. However, this announcement was made as reports surfaced that TikTok owner ByteDance is disappointed that the U.S. performance of TikTok Shop is falling far short of its original tenfold growth goal to $17.5 billion in 2025. The company reportedly moved to “drastically lower that objective” prior to touting its performance this month. Meanwhile, President Trump recently extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell the U.S. operations of TikTok, pushing the cutoff to September 17. Continue reading TikTok Shop’s U.S. Sales Improve but Still Fall Short of Goals

Amazon is testing audio product summaries that make “AI shopping experts” available for interactive pre-purchase exploration, guiding customers through the retail experience by highlighting key product features and analyzing customer reviews. The feature — launching in the U.S. for select products — is designed to “make product research fun and convenient, like having helpful friends discuss potential purchases to make shopping easier,” the company says. The initial focus is on “products that typically require consideration before purchase,” saving time through focused discussion. Customers can tap the “Hear the Highlights” button on product detail pages in the Amazon Shopping app. Continue reading Amazon Tests Conversational AI ‘Hear the Highlights’ Feature

Google is launching AI Mode for its search platform, an interactive tool that functions much like a chatbot, allowing users to fine-tune queries with follow-up prompts. In the next few weeks, an AI Mode tab will appear in Google Search and in the Google app search bar. Following the introduction of AI Overviews last year, the company began experimenting with AI Mode early this year. “As we’ve rolled out AI Overviews, we’ve heard from power users who want an end-to-end AI Search experience,” explains Google in detailing the evolution of AI Mode. The new tool will also test various ad placements. Continue reading Google Is Reimagining Search with Launch of AI Mode in U.S.

Pinterest has added more AI options for visual search, hoping to drive discovery. The idea is to make it easier to segment elements in Pin image searches, building databases of relevant or personally associated products. When users view a Pin, they’ll now also see AI-generated words that can be used to learn more about elements of an image that interest them, including informationally and to facilitate shopping. “We’re breaking down and decoding images so users can quickly search and shop for the details of an outfit — whether it’s an aesthetic, color palette, fit or product category,” according to Pinterest. Continue reading Pinterest Aims to Improve Discovery with Its AI Search Tools

Artificial intelligence is making big inroads in shopping, with Visa, Mastercard and PayPal all announcing AI-enhanced purchasing. Unveiled at the Visa Global Product Drop event, Visa Intelligent Commerce enables AI “to find, shop and buy for consumers based on their pre-selected preferences,” Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell said, noting “each consumer sets the limits, and Visa helps manage the rest.” That news came a day after Mastercard introduced Mastercard Agent Pay and PayPal emphasized agentic efforts at its Dev Days event last week. Agentic commerce is the use of AI to transact on behalf of a customer or business. Continue reading Visa, Mastercard and PayPal Embrace AI Agentic Commerce