the sad thing is we need AI for shopping because it has been in the interests of online sellers to make a hostile experience on purpose - when I go to Amazon and search, the first organic result is almost scrolled off the screen past all the sponsored ones, or when want to buy from a random seller I'm almost definitely getting shunted through an account signup I didn't want or fooled into an affiliate purchase some other hostile experience beyond just "buying the thing".
So now we have AI to overcome the hostile sellers, but the fact the sellers introduced the friction in the first place strongly suggests it will just come back again in some other form. It wasn't there by accident, it was serving people's interests and once AI vendors have finished getting consumers hooked in, they will then turn around and enshittify by giving the sellers back some of the friction - for a cut. So you won't be able to just order what you want without the "would you like fries with that?" or "what about this other brand?" coming back.
jdw64 · · focus · HN ↗
zmmmmm · · focus · HN ↗
So now we have AI to overcome the hostile sellers, but the fact the sellers introduced the friction in the first place strongly suggests it will just come back again in some other form. It wasn't there by accident, it was serving people's interests and once AI vendors have finished getting consumers hooked in, they will then turn around and enshittify by giving the sellers back some of the friction - for a cut. So you won't be able to just order what you want without the "would you like fries with that?" or "what about this other brand?" coming back.
raducu · · focus · HN ↗
They can pay the model provider, not amazon, but it would be less feasible because for now we have real competition among them.
History often rhimes but it doesn't always repeat itself.
I think there is genuinely a need for shopping agents and they could transform shopping in very good ways for the consumers.
Good thing for shoppers, bad for marketers, bad for people who relied on smarts, bad for margins, good for people who have capital and assets.