Amazon is stepping into the future of online shopping with an AI-powered assistant designed to make purchases on third-party websites on your behalf. The tech giant announced the launch of its “Buy for Me” feature, currently being tested with a select group of users, in a blog post on Thursday.
This new capability leverages Amazon’s proprietary Nova AI models alongside Anthropic’s Claude AI. Among these, Nova Act, an autonomous AI agent introduced earlier this week, appears to be playing a key role in handling transactions across external sites.
Unlike competitors such as OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity, Amazon’s AI shopping tool employs encryption to process payments securely without exposing a user’s financial details. This approach ensures that Amazon itself does not have direct access to the purchases made outside its ecosystem. In contrast, other AI shopping tools either require users to manually input their credit card details or rely on prepaid debit cards.
However, trusting AI with financial transactions comes with concerns. AI has been known to make mistakes, and users may hesitate to let an automated system complete purchases on their behalf. Additionally, AI-powered shopping assistants often experience processing delays or encounter issues that require human intervention.
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With “Buy for Me,” Amazon is asking customers to put faith in its technology, assuring them that purchases will be made correctly and efficiently. But the shift does come with trade-offs—users may have less control over their orders, and any returns or exchanges will need to be handled directly through the third-party seller’s platform rather than Amazon itself.
If Amazon does not carry an item a user is searching for, the AI will suggest similar products from other retailers. Users can then approve and purchase these products without ever leaving the Amazon app, further streamlining the e-commerce experience.
Amazon’s move positions it alongside major tech firms already exploring AI-powered shopping. While Amazon already dominates online retail, this feature could allow it to capture even more market share by facilitating purchases beyond its own platform. The AI shopping agent will independently visit external websites, select products based on user input, and handle the checkout process, including filling in the buyer’s name, shipping address, and payment details.
With AI-driven shopping on the rise, Amazon’s latest innovation could redefine how consumers make online purchases, expanding the company’s influence beyond its own marketplace.
