tech
January 13, 2026
A consumer watchdog issued a warning about Google's AI agent shopping protocol -- Google says she's wrong
A consumer economics watchdog says Google's new Universal Commerce Protocol is ripe for misuse where consumers could pay more for items. Google denies this.
TL;DR
- Groundwork Collaborative expressed concern that Google's new AI shopping protocol could lead to "personalized upselling" and "surveillance pricing."
- Google denies these allegations, stating that it prohibits merchants from displaying higher prices than on their own websites and that "upselling" refers to offering premium product options.
- Google's "Direct Offers" pilot is described as enabling lower prices or added services, not price increases.
- Google asserts its Business Agent cannot change retailer pricing based on individual data.
- Concerns were raised about Google's technical documents suggesting complexity should be hidden from user consent screens.
- The article highlights the potential for Big Tech companies to abuse AI shopping tools due to conflicting incentives of serving sellers and harvesting consumer data.
- Independent startups are emerging as potential alternatives for AI-powered shopping tools.
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