Google launched a new tool in Canada on Wednesday that will let users buy things with an AI chatbot, essentially eliminating the role of the e-commerce checkout cart.
The feature, officially called “Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)-powered checkout,” is the California-based company’s latest salvo in a fierce battle to control e-commerce, as tech companies race to turn conversational AI into digital points of sale.
While retail giants like Amazon and Walmart have introduced AI assistants that are effectively confined to their own platforms, Google is competing with agents like Meta’s Muse that can work across different online sites.
Both companies — Meta and Google — are seeking to become the universal checkout counter for internet retailers, meant to help shoppers avoid re-entering their payment details across multiple storefronts.
As of Wednesday, shoppers can buy items they discover through a conversation with the Gemini chatbot, or via the search engine while in “AI mode.” Purchases will be processed through Google Pay using shipping and payment details saved in Google Wallet. The individual retailer, not Google, remains the seller of record, taking full legal responsibility for fulfilling the order.
Eric Morris, head of retail at Google Canada, calls the new feature “a new way for Canadians to shop.”
As privacy fears and security concerns rise, some of Canada’s biggest banks are hitting the brakes on clients using personal AI agents — with most outright banning them.
For now, Google’s offering is limited to a handful of Canadian retail partners — Lululemon, Shoppers Drug Mart, Simons and select Shopify merchants, with more expected in the new year.
Shopify is both Google’s partner and its rival. The Ottawa-based company helped build Google’s in-chat checkout, even as it rolls out competing AI shopping tools of its own.
“AI is changing the way that consumers search,” Google Canada’s Morris told CBC News.
And Google, best known for its search engine, is acutely exposed to that change. Last Thursday, shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet plunged by double-digits, erasing roughly $500 billion US in market value in a single trading session, after the company booked weaker-than-expected search and advertising revenue.
“In the old days, you might go to Google and search for running tights, and you’d get 10 blue links and pictures of different products,” Morris said, describing the company’s legacy search experience.
OpenAI and other big tech companies are starting to roll out the next wave of artificial intelligence, designed to operate with more autonomy. CBC’s Nora Young breaks down how agentic AI works and why some think it will change how you use the internet.
Shopping with AI is a lot more conversational, he says. That same query for running shoes to a chatbot might…
Read More: Google launches AI-based shopping in Canada in race to dominate e-commerce
