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You need a new pair of trainers. You want them in your size, under €100, and delivered to Cyprus without a shipping fee that costs almost as much as the shoes.
Instead of opening a dozen browser tabs, imagine simply telling an AI assistant what you want and letting it do the searching for you.
That is the idea behind AI shopping agents: software designed to act as a personal shopper, finding products, comparing options and, in some cases, making purchases with the user’s permission.
The technology is already being used in some markets, and major tech and payment companies are investing in a future where more of the online shopping journey happens through an AI assistant.
From searching to shopping
Unlike a traditional chatbot that gives you a list of suggestions, an AI agent can be designed to take several steps on your behalf. Depending on the service and the sites it can access, it might search for a product, compare prices and delivery options, add an item to a basket, and proceed to checkout.
For a shopper in Cyprus, that could eventually mean asking for a coffee machine under €150 that ships to Limassol, or finding a birthday gift that will arrive in Nicosia before Friday.
The key word is eventually. Availability varies by service and country, and an agent can only work with the information and websites it can access. A bargain is not much of a bargain if the seller does not deliver to Cyprus or the final bill comes with unexpected shipping charges.
Consultancy Deloitte calls the shift “agentic commerce” and cites forecasts suggesting AI agents could enable as much as 25% of global e-commerce sales by 2030. That is a projection, not a guarantee, but it gives an idea of how seriously the industry is taking the technology.
Big tech wants in—but not everyone is opening the door
Meta’s AI assistant, Muse, is among the tools that can shop for users. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the United States and Canada had started using it, with shopping its most common use.
But not every retailer is happy to welcome an AI shopper.
Amazon has blocked Muse from shopping on its site, saying it had not authorized the agent’s access and raising concerns about transparency and the handling of customer credentials. Meta has disputed the security concerns, saying Muse cannot see customers’ passwords or payment information and that shared credentials are securely stored.
There are practical problems, too. In testing, The Verge found that Muse sometimes struggled to access retailers, suggested products that were unavailable for delivery, and could not compare prices on Amazon. The publication also showed how an agent could repeatedly reserve secondhand clothing in an online basket, keeping the items away from other shoppers. The retailer, The RealReal, said it had addressed the issue.
In other words, an AI assistant may be quick, but it does not always see the whole shop—or get everything right.
Who pays, and who decides?
Payment companies are also preparing for a world in which AI agents carry out transactions. Mastercard has introduced tools designed to help agents make payments on a user’s behalf, Fortune reported.
That raises an obvious question: How much control are shoppers willing to hand over?
Writing in Forbes, technology analyst Jordan McKee argued that people will need to see a clear benefit and trust that an agent will stay within the limits they set. Separate Forbes coverage highlighted research suggesting that product recommendations can change depending on how a question is worded or which AI model is used.
For shoppers, that means checking what an assistant is allowed to do, whether it needs approval before paying, and how it handles personal and payment information.
What it could mean for Cyprus
For people used to comparing prices across local and overseas websites, an AI shopper could save time. It might also help bring together details that are easy to miss, such as delivery charges, return conditions, and whether an item is available in the right size.
But an AI recommendation should still be checked, especially when it comes to the final price, delivery to Cyprus and returns. The cheapest item on screen may not be the cheapest one by the time it reaches your door.
There could be implications for local businesses, too. If customers increasingly ask AI to find products for them, shops may need to make sure their prices, stock and delivery information are easy for these tools to find and understand.
For now, the idea of handing your entire shopping list to an AI assistant remains a work in progress. But the next time you spend an evening comparing the same product across six websites, the appeal of a little digital help may be easy to understand.
*Source: Forbes, Fortune, The Verge
