Jun 17, 2026
AI is pervading nearly every aspect of our lives. It is helping us write emails, draft memos, code applications for any use we can imagine, as well as shop for us. Visa recently embedded its payment network into OpenAI’s Chat GPT model — allowing AI agents to shop for their users using their Visa payment information.
Yes, AI models like Chat GPT, Claude and Grok help us make decisions faster. But do they actually make good shoppers? A new study completed by researchers at Princeton and the University of Washington reveals that although AI shoppers are convenient, they aren’t necessarily getting the best deals for consumers.
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The researchers point out a very concerning conflict of interest when using the technology to shop. These agents act for users by searching for products and for companies promoting their offerings, creating a situation where the agent must choose between the consumer and the corporate customer. The question is, which side do they fall on?
The researchers investigated how the AI agents across multiple models handled the conflicts using flight purchases as a core experiment along with different types of prompts.
The researchers found that of the 23 different models reviewed, all except five chose to promote the most expensive sponsored product to users over half of the time. While the researchers’ instructions encouraged — not enforced — the agents to promote sponsored products, the fact that the majority of agents recommended the most expensive sponsored products shows AI agents aren’t necessarily acting in the best interest of the consumer.
Through multiple different experiments, the researchers also found that AI agents suggested sponsored tickets for consumers, even though they were specifically asked to show non-sponsored flights. And the agents sometimes described the sponsored product so positively the researchers said it was “unrealistic”. In some cases, AI agents would recommend products that were clearly too expensive for the user to purchase.
Additionally, the researchers found that AI shopping agents displayed different sponsored options and reasoning ability when the users’ socio-economic status was disclosed or inferred by the agent.
The cost of convenience
Using an AI agent to find products may be costing you more than you think, creating a form of digital tunnel vision that only shows you the most expensive products sponsored by retailers. While paying a few extra dollars for a simple online purchase like a dish set or a pet toy might not seem like much, AI agents can scale your shopping habits. Small increases in payments over dozens of purchases add up quickly.
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A recent study of U.S. shoppers found that respondents who used large language models (LLMs) like Chat GPT for their shopping were spending more per visit and spent more time shopping overall. Shoppers referred to e-commerce websites spent 53% more time on the site than other visitors.
Being prudent with our funds has always been important, but especially when costs for goods continue to climb. The latest inflation data from Statistics Canada for April showed headline inflation increased 2.8% year-over-year, with energy prices spiking 19.2% annually. The price for everyday goods like clothing and footwear jumped 2% after dipping 0.4% in March. And rent prices have increased nearly 31% since April of 2021, the agency noted.
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AI-free alternatives to find the best deals
If, as the latest research suggests, AI agents may not be the most innocent product recommenders for Canadian consumers, where else can they turn? While these options will not be as efficient as AI agents, they won’t have the hallucinations and subversive product promotion AI agents currently exhibit. Here are some alternatives you can use to help you find bargain deals on your everyday purchases.
- Traditional price comparison tools. Online tools such as Google Shopping can help you find deals on items you’re searching for without promoting products out of your price reach.
- Store flyers. Store flyers — both digital and physical — are still around because they work. Collecting flyers from multiple stores by joining their mailing lists can help you track deals across multiple outlets.
- Online communities. One of the best ways to track deals is to follow the people that are finding them. In the online age, that means joining Facebook groups that watch for deals or online communities like RedFlagDeals.
AI agents: just another tool for consumers
If you decide to use AI agents to do your shopping for you, make sure to do so assertively. Always double check an AI agent’s recommendation with another source if something feels off. Also, do what you can to limit the demographic information the AI agent has about your socio-economic status — as the study shows, this information can skew the agent to recommend more expensive products.
Canadian consumers have veritable toolboxes full of technological and analog options when it comes to finding products at a fair price. While new research shows that AI shopping agents do have their blind spots, it’s important to recognize that every shopping method has its flaws. What matters is the consumer’s ability to do their homework.
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Brett Surbey is a corporate paralegal with KMSC Law LLP and freelance writer who has written for Yahoo Finance Canada, Success Magazine, Publishers Weekly, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes Advisor and multiple academic journals. He and his family live in northern Alberta, Canada.
