Meta Platforms Inc is testing a shopping research feature in its artificial intelligence chatbot, rivalling a similar tool offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
The feature, which allows requests for product suggestions, is being rolled out to some US-based users of the Meta AI web browser. The chatbot responds with a carousel of product images that include captions with information about the brand, website, and price. It also offers a brief explanation of its recommendations in bullet-point form. A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the shopping tool is being tested, but declined to share further details.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has made it a goal for Meta to build "personal superintelligence” as it competes with other popular chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, which have also begun incorporating ecommerce features to make money from their tools. During an earnings call in January, Zuckerberg said the company will start shipping new products in the coming months that can show Meta’s ability to provide a "uniquely personal experience” based on people’s history, interests, content and relationships.
When applicable, the chatbot’s recommendations are tailored to what Meta already knows about the user’s location and to the gender it infers from their name, Bloomberg News found when testing the feature. For example, when asked to find puffer jackets, Meta AI’s response referenced the author’s location in New York and offered options for women’s puffers. There is no checkout or payment option within Meta’s chatbot, but users can click on the provided merchant links for further browsing.
The spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about whether Meta receives referral commissions for its chatbot’s recommendations and declined to comment on whether Meta AI prioritises brands that already advertise their products on its social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
But Zuckerberg’s comments in the January call may offer clues: while the company’s ads currently help businesses target the specific people interested in their products, the company’s "new agentic shopping tools will allow people to find just the right, very specific set of products from the businesses in our catalogue,” he said at the time. – Bloomberg
