Amazon is stepping into the next frontier of online shopping with the launch of a powerful new AI feature called “Buy for Me.” Announced in a blog post on Thursday, this experimental tool is currently being tested with a select group of users. It’s designed to revolutionize the way people shop—by going beyond Amazon’s own inventory and venturing into third-party websites on your behalf.
Traditionally, if a product isn’t available on Amazon, shoppers need to leave the app and search elsewhere. But with Buy for Me, Amazon is flipping the script. If the platform doesn’t have the item you’re searching for, the AI agent will automatically display listings from other online retailers within the Amazon Shopping app. You can then choose your preferred product, and Amazon’s AI will handle the entire purchasing process—from selection to checkout—without requiring you to leave the app.
One Agent to Shop Them All
This move places Amazon in direct competition with other major tech players like Google, OpenAI, and Perplexity, all of whom are exploring similar AI-powered shopping experiences. However, Amazon’s offering has a unique twist: it not only recommends products from other sites but also completes purchases autonomously.
Behind the scenes, the AI agent visits the external retailer’s website, selects the requested item, and fills out the customer’s name, shipping address, and payment information. According to Amazon, this process is carried out using Amazon Nova AI models—including its newly announced Nova Act, an autonomous agent capable of navigating websites—and also leverages Anthropic’s Claude for added AI intelligence.
Shopping Smarter and Safer?
Perhaps the most notable (and controversial) feature is how Buy for Me handles payment data. Amazon claims that all personal and billing information is encrypted and securely inserted on third-party sites, ensuring that even Amazon itself cannot view the order details made outside its platform. This is a significant departure from competitors like Google and OpenAI, which currently require users to manually input their payment details, or Perplexity, which uses a prepaid debit card for transactions.
While this hands-off approach to shopping promises maximum convenience, it naturally raises questions around trust and control. Giving AI access to your billing details—and relying on it to make correct purchase decisions—can be nerve-wracking. There’s always the risk of a misstep: imagine expecting a pack of 10 socks and ending up with 1,000 instead.
What Happens After You Buy?
Another concern is post-purchase support. If you need to return or exchange an item bought through Buy for Me, Amazon won’t handle it directly. Instead, you’ll be redirected to the third-party seller’s website, where you’ll need to follow their return or customer service processes.
So while Amazon is extending its reach in the e-commerce world, it’s also asking users to relinquish a degree of control and trust in the process. The potential benefits—saving time, accessing more products, and streamlining shopping—are enticing. But it remains to be seen how comfortable users will feel letting AI agents take the wheel completely.
What’s Next?
Amazon has long been the default destination for online shopping. With Buy for Me, it’s aiming to become the universal shopping interface, one that doesn’t just connect you to products on its platform, but to the entire internet of retailers. If successful, this could dramatically increase Amazon’s e-commerce dominance, while changing how we shop online forever.
As AI continues to evolve, so does its role in our daily lives—and shopping may be one of the most personal and impactful areas of transformation yet. Whether users embrace this new level of automation remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: Amazon’s “Buy for Me” is a bold step into the future of intelligent, agent-driven commerce.
