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It was only a matter of time before Mark Zuckerberg’s meta jumped into the AI-based shopping race. according to Bloomberg reportMeta is testing a new AI shopping assistant feature to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in one of the fastest-growing areas of e-commerce.
A Meta representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meta joins an AI shopping assistant market that is expected to boom. Research and consulting firm Grand View Research expects the market to grow from it $3.36 billion in 2024 to $28.54 billion in 2033 – At an annual rate of approximately 27%. North America currently controls 40% of the global market.
Other AI-powered shopping assistants are also available alongside ChatGPT, Gemini, and now Meta. Among them is Rufus from Amazon (ZDNet loves it), Amazon Interests, Klarna (By OpenAI), Shopify And even eBay.
Initially, only some were based in the United States Meta artificial intelligence Users will see the new feature inside the chatbot, according to Bloomberg.
Let’s say you asked a chatbot which cat toys are the most popular. The AI will return a horizontal carousel of products, along with the price, brand information, and websites where you can buy them.
The AI tool will also provide a brief explanation of why each product is recommended. However, you will not be able to purchase directly from the Meta AI website. You will need to visit the merchant’s external link.
In Meta’s AI browser, some US-based users can ask the chatbot for shopping suggestions.
Vice president and principal analyst Sucharita Kodali of research firm Forrester said the meta test seemed like a “copycat move” and an attempt to get into the AI-based shopping hype.
“When you look at the data that ChatGPT and Perplexity shared, the shopping use cases are still very limited, so I’m not sure there’s a big opportunity or need here,” Kodali told CNET. “It’s also not clear what Meta will offer merchants or consumers better than anything Instagram already offers.”
OpenAI’s ChatGPT already has AI shopping research feature. She tried it out and asked, “Please show me the best cat toys you can buy.” The AI responded with a curated list of highly rated cat toys. It provided a horizontal, scrollable carousel of products. Each product displays its price in different stores. As with Meta, you must click on the store’s website link for each product to purchase it.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT also has an AI-powered shopping search tool.
With Google Gemini AI shopping assistantI asked the same question: “Please show me the best cat toys I can buy.” Gemini responded with products, images, prices, descriptions, and links to stores — essentially the same setup as Meta and ChatGPT.
Meta’s entry into the AI shopping market reflects a broader shift in how consumers interact with products online, as AI reshapes e-commerce experiences and companies seek deeper integration between social journeys, search and purchase.
Traditionally, online shopping began with keyword searches on e-commerce sites or search engines, but AI now enables more natural language, personalized discovery, and personalized suggestions based on context, intent, and user data.
Customer trust is an issue with AI shopping assistants, said Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at research firm Gartner.
“Our recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of consumers believe GenAI-powered shopping tools, whether provided by retailers or GenAI platforms, will provide biased shopping recommendations,” Jashinski told CNET. “It takes a long time to change customer behavior. More e-commerce shopping won’t happen on mobile versus desktop in the US until 2023. And that was 16 years after the iPhone debuted.”
Businesses have been slow to adopt agentic AI and GenAI in online shopping experiences, Jashinski said.
“More than half of customer experience leaders fear that AI that delivers inaccurate responses or content threatens the customer experience,” he said.