An AI shopping assistant can compare products in minutes, but Which? found in October 2026 that 68% of the 25 prices it tested from ChatGPT had at least one issue. Treat the answers as a shortlist. Adobe measured a 693.4% rise in visits to U.S. retail sites from generative AI tools during the 2025 holiday season, so this habit is spreading quickly, and this year's Black Friday falls on November 27, 2026.
AI Became a Shopping Channel in 2025
Adobe Analytics counted $257.8 billion in U.S. online holiday sales from November 1 to December 31, 2025, up 6.8% from 2024, according to Talk Business & Politics. Traffic from generative AI tools to retail sites rose 693.4% over the prior year and 670% on Cyber Monday. Adobe said the base of users remains modest.
Black Friday alone reached $11.8 billion online, up 9.1%, and Adobe put electronics discounts at 30.9% off list. Those are the figures an assistant has to beat. Adobe's numbers measure clicks to retailers, not whether the advice saved anyone money, and Saganote's AI pricing guide shows how fast the tools' own costs move too.
ChatGPT Shopping Research
ChatGPT's feature is called shopping research. Tom's Guide and eWeek described it in November 2025: click the plus button in the message bar, select Shopping research, and answer clarifying questions about budget and use. OpenAI offered it to Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans, and the labels may have changed since.
Speed varies. Tom's Guide's TV test took eight minutes, reviewed 18 products, and returned six options, while a camera prompt took about five minutes. TechRadar's laptop test sent every link to Best Buy, a single test that does not show how the feature chooses retailers in general.
OpenAI admits errors can slip in. OpenAI says shopping research can be imperfect on price and availability, and it told Which? that prices in its initial listings may not be the lowest. Saganote's ChatGPT virtual try-on report covers a Try on button for clothing, which OpenAI says does not guarantee fit. Its comparison of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude covers where each model fits, with ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro at $20 a month and Google AI Pro at $19.99.
Gemini and Google Shopping
Gemini's shopping runs through Google's AI Mode in Search and, for U.S. users, inside the Gemini app, according to Tom's Guide's November 2025 overview. Google's Shopping Graph is described as holding 50 billion product listings, with 2 billion updated every hour, though that is Google's own figure. TechRadar found that Gemini asked no clarifying questions. Tighter prompts help.
Google's newer tools matter. Saganote's report on Google's Universal Cart in Search and Gemini covers the U.S. shopping launch, and the Gemini Spark in Chrome report says Spark asks for confirmation before sensitive actions such as payments. Its Gemini auto browse report for Chrome on Android covers the phone side.
Free Gemini users now see an Auto setting. Google's support document says the change began October 9, 2026, with most prompts going to Flash-Lite and harder ones possibly to Flash or Pro, as Saganote's Gemini auto model selection report explains. Paid tiers are compared in Saganote's Gemini Plus vs Pro guide.
Perplexity and Copilot Shopping
Perplexity launched a shopping tab with PayPal checkout. Tom's Guide said it was U.S.-only at launch in November 2025, and TechRadar's laptop test found its first option above the requested price. Saganote's Perplexity pricing guide lists the free plan at $0 and Pro at $20 a month, and the free AI tools guide says the free tier offers unlimited cited searches but only a few Pro searches daily.
Microsoft's Copilot works inside Edge and, at its U.S. launch, showed cashback, price comparisons, price history, and price alerts, which makes it the closest match to a classic deal tracker among the four. Tom's Guide did not test it.
| Assistant | Where to start | What was reported | Check before trusting |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Plus button, then Shopping research | Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans; clarifying questions first | Which? found the lowest price and retailer right for 8 of 25 products |
| Gemini | Google AI Mode, or the Gemini app in the U.S. | No clarifying questions in TechRadar's test; call-store and agent options | Google's 50 billion listings figure is unverified |
| Perplexity | Shopping tab, with PayPal checkout | U.S.-only at launch; instant buy | First pick was over budget in one TechRadar test |
| Copilot | Edge browser | Cashback, price history, and alerts at U.S. launch | Not tested in the sources read |
Every row of the table comes from November 2025 launch coverage, apart from the Which? result, so feature names, plans, and regions may differ now. Test each assistant on one product first.
Prompts That Produce Useful Comparisons
Specifics matter. Good prompts name a budget and a use, which any AI shopping assistant needs to narrow results. Tom's Guide's best results came from specific briefs, such as a TV at £400 or less that is on sale right now, and Kaspersky's prompt set covers price history, alternatives in a table, and seller checks.
Find a 55-inch TV under $500 for movies and games. Ask me questions first about room size and brightness.
For each option, list the retailer, current price, link, and the date you last saw that price.
Compare the top three in a table: price, warranty, return window, and one known weakness.
Show each model's price history and say whether today's price is a real low or a typical sale.
Flag any seller you cannot verify and any option that is refurbished or open-box.Kaspersky also recommends CamelCamelCamel and Keepa for price tracking. Its post promotes its own security product. Saganote's real price history guide for tech deals covers how to read those charts, and cross-checking one assistant against another exposes disagreements fast. Anyone who relies on an AI shopping assistant should do both.
Where AI Shopping Answers Go Wrong
- Stale prices: Which? found ChatGPT called £399 the lowest current price for a Lenovo Chromebook, but the figure was a six-month low and a reputable retailer charged £599
- Wrong retailer: ChatGPT cited £499 at B&Q for a Hisense TV, taken from a comparison site, and Which? could not find that TV at B&Q
- Wrong price: a Microsoft Surface Pro showed £919.08 at Microsoft Store, while Which? found £899 at Amazon and £999 at the Microsoft Store
- Ads near answers: OpenAI says ChatGPT ads are labeled, kept separate, and do not influence answers, and ads are not shown to Plus, Pro, or Business users
- Agent purchases: assistants that browse and buy ask for confirmation first, so read each confirmation screen
Sponsored placement is growing. Saganote's ChatGPT visual ads report says OpenAI planned a U.S. test of ads beside generated images, and its ChatGPT ads revenue report puts the annualized run rate at $1 billion. OpenAI's ChatGPT Go plan may still show ads, per Saganote's free-tools table.
Browser control raises the stakes. Saganote's ChatGPT browser control report says ChatGPT prompts before it acts on a new website by default, and the agentic AI explainer covers how such agents differ from chatbots. Fake stores are another risk, and Saganote's delivery text scams guide and Gemini scam protection in Google Messages cover the message side of holiday fraud.
Which? tested 25 products on one chatbot in one month and called it a snapshot, so the 68% figure will not hold for every product. Features and regions change, and this article was verified on November 9, 2026. A dated price from an assistant is a lead, not a quote.
A Five-Minute Check Before Buying
- Open the retailer's own page and confirm the model number and the current price.
- Check price history on a tracker and see whether the discount is genuine.
- Compare the return window and warranty, not just the price.
- Search for the seller name if the retailer is unfamiliar.
- Pay with a method that offers dispute rights.
Rules like these keep a shortlist honest. Steps one to five work with any assistant, since the tools differ in features but share the same price risk, and Saganote plans to retest the main ones before next year's sale.
Watch the ad labels this season. OpenAI said its visual ads would begin a U.S. test in October 2026, and any assistant that mixes sponsored products into a shortlist should say so on screen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ChatGPT shopping research free?
Which assistant is best for Black Friday?
Can an assistant buy items for me?
Are AI prices accurate?
Do ChatGPT ads change the answers?
