Google is rolling out conversational shopping—and ads—in AI Mode search (arstechnica.com)

Google is rolling out its promised conversational shopping features in AI Mode search in the US, powered by Gemini and Google’s massive Shopping Graph. Users will soon be able to ask complex, multi-step buying questions and receive AI-generated suggestions, comparison tables, buying guides and follow-up Q&A — and Gemini is also being grafted onto Google’s Duplex call automation to help with transactions. Google warns of the usual generative-AI error rates, but positions the system as a more conversational, curated alternative to traditional product search just in time for the holidays. The rollout also formalizes monetization and “agentic” behavior: some AI Mode shopping content will be ads (similar to regular search), while the Gemini app will get shopping features without sponsored results for now. Google is debuting “agentic checkout,” where you can set price thresholds and authorize automatic purchases via Google Pay when a tracked item hits your target — currently supported only at select partners (Chewy, Wayfair, some Shopify merchants). The combination of autonomous purchasing, ad blending, and generative recommendations raises questions about transparency, hallucination risk, trust and merchant reach, but signals a major push to embed LLM-driven commerce directly into search and transaction flows.