AI shopping assistants bought the wrong thing almost half the time

AI shopping assistants are not ready to be trusted with your wallet yet. Visa asked 22 AI agents to buy a TV, a laptop and a hair appliance. Overall, they got it right only about 57% of the time. That means more than four in ten attempts went wrong.

What the test found

Each of the 22 agents made 15 separate shopping attempts. Results are posted on a new Visa website. The best agents, from Google and Meta, both made a successful purchase 82% of the time. A Claude agent came in third at 76%. An OpenAI agent finished sixth at 64%.

Cost played a role. Visa says the five most expensive models succeeded 67% of the time on average. The five cheapest scored 50%.

Why agents get it wrong

Real shoppers rarely know exactly what they want, and they do not say everything up front. Visa copied that. For TV shopping, the buyer needed things like compatibility with a child's gaming console, a 30-day return window and a feature called Dolby Vision. The buyer, also played by an AI agent, shared only some of those details.

To succeed, the shopping agent had to ask good questions and fill in the gaps without dragging on. Success meant buying a TV that fit the buyer's needs. Often, agents bought the wrong product or never suggested anything suitable.

What is still unsettled

Picking the right product is only one piece. Companies also have to make payments smooth and secure. Visa and rival Mastercard are working on this by educating merchants and building tools for what the industry calls agentic commerce, meaning AI that shops for you.

The legal side is also open. It is still unclear who should pay when an agent makes a rogue purchase or commits fraud. Visa's Rubail Birwadker said these questions will be resolved over time, as they were with early online shopping.

What to do

• Check what an agent picked before you approve payment.
• Confirm the details you care about, such as return windows and compatibility.
• Be specific about your needs, since agents can miss what you leave out.

What happens next

Birwadker said, "We're not there yet from a trust or technology perspective. But we'll soon get into a world where consumers can trust and delegate." He noted that agent shopping is early but moving fast. Visa's new website also lets people try the agents used in the study.