Thread

1. simianwords · 1790012069 · focus · HN ↗

   There's a lot to discuss here - agentic commerce, IMO, is where things are heading. I'm completely convinced that people _want_ to shop using agents. But I want to understand the dynamics at play here: will underlying inventory providers like Amazon give up control and allow agents to use their website?

   I find this question very interesting and I want to predict where things will head. On one hand Amazon has a lot to lose by giving up control on how their website is used. Ideally they'd like to control the full end to end experience. What happens to the work they put in their UI? All those endless A/B experiments to make the buttons look perfect?

   But on the other hand - this is where things are heading. They can't stop agents from using their website. Not for long. And they have a lot to gain because overall purchases will increase since. They can accept it and create a plugin and try to offer as much "branding" as possible inside it. Or they can completely go against agents and block it.

   Then you have to wonder, what really is the moat here? Amazon's logistics and its relations with partners and customers (return policy etc) and the trust it brings. The UI part dissolves and is no longer important.

   Maybe they want only an allowed list of agents access to Amazon? Maybe that's where things are heading? They sign deals with maybe just OpenAI (for example)? Its not like Amazon makes their own agent + model. I would hate it things fragment this much.

   1. dylan604 · 1790012983 · focus · HN ↗

      > On one hand Amazon has a lot to lose by giving up control

      The everyday person is told to get over it and accept that AI is here so adapt or die. Companies start reducing headcounts to be replaced with AI. So now, a company is having to accept that people are using AI in ways they don't like so they should adapt or die as well too, right? I have no tears to shed if Amazon loses control. Also, it'll be one billionaire battling another billionaire at that point, and I'm kind of okay with that chaos. My world is no longer in my control so fuck 'em is my stance

      1. simianwords · 1790013083 · focus · HN ↗

         OK according to game theory, if this is correct, why even put up a fight? You have nothing to gain by fighting. Just accept it and play along. Make your damn MCP. You have 100,000 engineers. Why can't connect Amazon to ChatGPT today? I don't know.

         1. majorchord · 1790014247 · focus · HN ↗

            > Why can't connect Amazon to ChatGPT today? I don't know.

            They just don't want to, because there's no ads. The human gets removed from the loop of visiting the site entirely. And it doesn't say Amazon all over it.

            1. dylan604 · 1790037313 · focus · HN ↗

               If the user is not browsing the site/app, Amazon cannot collect the analytics about your browsing habits. The AI system does though. There is absolutely no incentive for Amazon to discourage users from using their system. After all, the AI system might not show the user an Amazon item.
      2. edmundsauto · 1790013368 · focus · HN ↗

         It’s an optimistic view on AI - brings power to the people by mediating all the garbage.

         I’ve already used it to handle customer support request calls. I see 30+ minute hold+conversation times and generally the issue gets resolved. That is hugely empowering.

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