The tech industry is hot for shopping bots, but they're years away

The thought of automated software making purchases on behalf of consumers from online merchants thrills much of the tech and financial industry. The chatter started in early 2025 and has surged since then, giving rise to the term "agentic commerce." A few reality checks have called the idea into question. For example, Amazon recently blocked Meta's Muse bot, citing terms of use restrictions. This was after the e-commerce giant had previously blocked Perplexity's AI bot, and even won a preliminary injunction that was later overturned as the litigation dragged on. But even if major platforms like Amazon haven't accepted that their e-commerce services dissolve into an API call for automated shopping assistants that seek out low prices, payment companies welcome automated shopping. Mastercard on Wednesday published a report exploring what needs to happen to make agentic commerce workable. "AI agents are learning to shop, pay, and act on behalf of consumers, businesses, and machines," the report says. …