In my last post, I explored AI’s growing influence, regulatory tensions, and the rise of agentic AI. Since then, that momentum has only accelerated. From PayPal and Perplexity enabling one-click checkout, to Mastercard, Visa, OpenAI, and Walmart building autonomous shopping tools, AI agents are no longer just assisting—they’re acting on our behalf.
This month, we’re tracking how agentic AI is reshaping buying behaviors, transforming major platforms like Yelp and Reddit, and raising new questions about oversight and safety. Let’s dive in.
This Agent Goes to Market
PayPal and Perplexity partner for easy checkout which will allow for faster direct purchases right within your Perplexity chat session. This ups Perplexity’s agentic game in an increasingly competitive space and will have PayPal handling the entire payment process and allow consumers to make a purchase with a single click. PayPal’s 430 million active users will get access to Perplexity’s commerce tools as well.
Mastercard and Visa enter the Agentic AI space to power a “new era of intelligent, autonomous shopping”. Within the span of a few days, both payment giants announced capabilities that will allow agents to make purchases on the behalf of consumers. A distinction of this new era is that AI will not just respond but will act by understanding our intentions and helping to achieve.
OpenAI ups the shopping experience with its first shopping tools that “could be used to help people using the tool for product research decide which espresso machine or office chair to buy.” The experience will craft recommendations from its knowledge of each user’s preferences combined with product reviews and data from the web.
Walmart sees AI shopping agents as its next customer. Walmart expects big changes to come to shopping behaviors with agents soon shopping on customer’s behalf. “AI bots, able to perform tasks autonomously, have the potential to transform online shopping, completely bypassing traditional online search and promotional tricks aimed at attracting human beings.” Walmart agents currently under construction will access the Walmart app and site and perform tasks such as ordering groceries and fill a shopping cart based on a chat instruction.
YELP launches an AI assistant to help find/connect with service providers. Now you can use a conversational AI feature to help you find the right pro for your job. “Powered by large language models (LLMs), Yelp Assistant intelligently guides you through the process of finding the right pro for the job. It contextually understands your project or problem, engages in a professional-like dialogue with follow up questions, and then matches you with businesses that are qualified to help with your project.”
More AI Please
Business Insider is tracking employee ChatGPT usage with the goal of getting more employees to use it and those who already do to use it more. In a staff meeting the company highlighted the top ten users. “Staffers in the meeting applauded these “power users,” but in private some employees shared concerns about the generative AI push and cracked jokes about the top 10 list. Many also had not realized management was tracking employees’ individual adoption rates of the technology.”
Google may soon deliver MORE AI as it tests moving AI Mode front and center into the Google interface. Some users have seen the AI mode placed right within the search bar and other tests show it replacing the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. When Google places AI mode more prominently for its millions of users, it will change the whole search and information landscape for everyday users.
REDDIT integrates AI answers into the search bar. Reddit reports that more than 1 million weekly users are using the reddit AI answers feature and now plans to make the feature more prominent by adding it to the site’s main search. This upgrade will allow the user to see AI powered summaries if they wish or get a more standard search response depending on what they prefer.
Safety First
Agents could go rogue in a new class of cybersecurity attacks. Data breaches, misuse of login credentials and sensitive information leaks are some of the potential threats from unconstrained AI agents. At a recent RSA security conference, one focus was on securing AI agents’ identities to make agent transactions safer.
Until next time! We hope you’ll continue to follow us here for the latest AI marketplace news roundups, and get in touch if you want to explore these updates and build solutions together .
