Online shopping has become a nightmare, plagued by keyword-crammed product pages that are nearly impossible to decipher. Scalpers deploy bots to snatch up limited-edition items like the Nintendo Switch 2 or the latest Labubu drop, leaving regular shoppers frustrated. The experience is often more aggravating than enjoyable, turning what should be simple into a chaotic ordeal.
Google, however, believes it has a solution to this mess. At I/O 2025, Vidhya Srinivasan, Google’s Vice President and General Manager of Ads and Commerce—who also oversees shopping—unveiled a suite of AI-driven tools designed to make online shopping less painful. Their big idea? An AI bot that essentially shops on your behalf, streamlining the entire process.
The first of these innovations is part of Google’s new AI Mode, powered by Gemini AI. This feature helps shoppers find inspiration and product suggestions tailored to their needs. For instance, if your living room’s couch is a dull color and you lack decorating skills, AI Mode is here to help. It’s designed to spark ideas and guide your purchases with ease.
Using AI Mode is simple. Point your phone’s camera at a space—say, your living room—and ask Gemini AI to “find furniture to brighten it up.” In seconds, it suggests items that match your vibe, making you feel like a design pro. You’ll be ready to wow your friends at your next dinner party with your seemingly natural flair for decor.
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AI Mode shopping will roll out in the U.S. in the “coming months,” Google says. It’s hard not to see the downside, though—Gemini AI’s endless “inspo” might tempt you to buy things you don’t need, just because your old stuff suddenly feels outdated. Funnily enough, Trump’s tariffs might actually help by discouraging overconsumption and reducing waste long-term.
Next up is the “Try it on” feature, which lets you virtually try on clothes. This isn’t the clunky augmented reality of the 2010s, where digital clothes were awkwardly superimposed on you. In 2025, Google uses AI to generate a 3D avatar of your body, dressed in clothing rendered from product images, for a more realistic experience.
To use “Try it on,” you upload a single photo of yourself. Google’s AI then creates a 3D model, complete with clothes that fold, drape, and stretch like real fabric. Srinivasan explained to media, including Gizmodo, that Google developed a custom image generation model for fashion, deeply attuned to 3D shapes, ensuring lifelike results.
This feature lets you share your avatar’s outfits with friends for feedback, but it also fuels consumerism. More concerning is the privacy angle—uploading a photo to create a 3D body profile stored in your Google account feels invasive. How does the AI accurately capture your body shape from one image? What if your photo doesn’t show your full physique, like a curvier backside?
There are other questions, too. If you lose weight, gain muscle, or go through any body transformation, do you need to update your avatar for accurate clothing renders? Digital clothes fit differently on a slim versus a fuller figure, so precision matters. Google hasn’t clarified how this works, leaving users in the dark. “Try it on” launches in Google Search Labs on May 20 in the U.S.
Lastly, there’s agentic checkout, the most practical of the trio. This AI “agent” acts like a personal shopper, letting you set preferences like price, color, or size. When a matching item is available, the AI adds it to a merchant’s cart, fills in your billing and shipping details, and completes the purchase via Google Pay. It eliminates the hassle of refreshing tabs or juggling multiple sites, but if everyone’s using bots, online shopping could become a battleground of AI agents. This feature hits the U.S. in the “coming months.”
