Google is betting that shoppers will trust artificial intelligence not just to find products, but to track, assemble and even pay for them — raising fresh questions about convenience, control and data power in online commerce.

May 19, 2026: Google lays out its AI shopping vision

At Google I/O 2026 on May 19, the company unveiled “Universal Cart,” described as an “agentic hub for managing shopping in one place” that works across Search, Gemini, YouTube and Gmail.¹ The cart lets users add products they’re considering from anywhere on Google, then “tracks deals, monitors price drops, surfaces price history insights, and alerts users when items are back in stock.”²

The tool is designed around the reality that most people shop “across multiple devices, multiple retailers, and over the course of many days,” consolidating those scattered sessions into a single persistent cart.² It also uses AI to spot issues — for example, flagging a PC processor that doesn’t work with a chosen motherboard and suggesting alternatives.²

In parallel, Google detailed updates to its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), which will “enable users to authorize agents to make payments on their behalf,” turning AI assistants “from passive recommendation tools into active participants in online commerce.”³ As The Verge put it, the company is effectively asking, “Would you let robots spend your money?”⁴

Convenience vs. control

Google pitches Universal Cart as a way to “corral people’s shopping habits into one place,” simplifying a process many currently manage with “many, many, many tabs open.”⁵ Built on Google Wallet and its Universal Commerce Protocol, the system allows checkout directly through Google or handoff to a merchant’s own site, expanding into categories like hotels and local food.²

Yet the same infrastructure also positions Google “to control more of the entire shopping journey, and potentially the relationship between consumers and the merchants competing for their attention.”³ That concentration of power has sparked broader concern about Google’s AI ambitions; DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis amplified one reaction that “Google Omni might be too powerful,” in a retweet that resonated with critics of Big Tech’s reach.Demis Hassabis (demishassabis)⁶

Analysts note that widespread adoption will hinge on whether consumers are comfortable letting an AI not only track their entire shopping journey but, via AP2, actually spend their money — and whether retailers accept Google as the primary portal between them and their customers.⁴