Mastercard Gives AI Agents Ability To Shop Online for You (financialpost.com) 37
Mastercard is working with Microsoft and other leading AI companies to give AI agents the ability to shop online and make payments on behalf of consumers. From a report: Under the new program, a shopper could prompt an AI agent -- Microsoft's Copilot, for example -- to search for a pair of yellow running shoes in a particular size.
The agent would then search and offer the customer options, and then be able to make the purchase while also recommending the best way to pay, Mastercard said in a statement Tuesday.
The agent would then search and offer the customer options, and then be able to make the purchase while also recommending the best way to pay, Mastercard said in a statement Tuesday.
Jesus no (Score:4, Insightful)
I do NOT want any 'AI' involved in my purchase authorization chain unless the credit card company agrees they'll pay for any errors and compensate me for any inconvenience.
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What could possibly go wrong? /S
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"Request 'purchase many thongs' registered and actioned, one commercial shipping container of thongs ordered on your account. Thank you for making a simple AI very happy." - George, your Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Purchasing Assistant (with GPP!)
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No kidding. As far as I'm concerned, the only difficult part is finding the shoes in the right size and with the other features you want. That is presumably already done with a form of AI in existing search engines and generally very poorly. Not to mention with a whole lot of bias in the search engine towards products from clients who are paying them. So that part already exists and already sucks (compared to what it could be, anyway) and this does not look like it will improve things.
As for the rest of it.
It's just product placement and advertising (Score:5, Insightful)
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How much easier is it to just talk to your computer, like on Star Trek, rather than go through the hassle of doing the actual purchasing, which is what you are trying to avoid in the first place?
How fast will the convenience of using natural language, at least for a lot of shoppers, supplant the usual fears of anything new?
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Star Trek is fiction. At the very MOST I would allow speech-to-action on a one by one case, ie. "Search for yellow shoes, show page 2, show page 3, choose fifth option, no, go back, choose sixth option, buy, fill in my details, submit." Any more automation than that is just BEGGING to have your card maxed out due to a misunderstanding or hallucination.
Even today such risks exist with badly made systems. Just the other day I went to my online banking portal to pay a bill for 56.40 euros. After entering the d
Re: It's just product placement and advertising (Score:2)
Why can't we insure everything through, ultimately, the Fed if necessary, so that you're as confident about AI transactions as you are about, say, airplanes or driving a car?
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Have you seen the crazy bastards on the roads where I live? When I go out, I have virtually no confidence that I'm going to make it home alive.
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Because we have utterly failed to do that in the past 40-50 years of computers. I have no confidence that proper safeguards will be put in place now.
Re: It's just product placement and advertising (Score:2)
Why am I reminded of how I used to have that exact same attitude about ecommerce?
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I am excited about this! To use it? Hell no, I am not stupid. But as a security expert, there will be a lot new attack vectors and methods and a lot of people losing money so good times for anybody competent in IT secuity.
Re: Jesus no (Score:2)
Impersonating styles was the main parlour trick. Or removing people from photographs, gee thanks Google. Manipulating reality is encouraged with generative AI.
So, I would suggest the relevant issue is about authentication.
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No need to read the article. The headline is enough. I expect attackers can make the AI buy you stuff they sell. Or them, from your money. Or just buy prodicts that do not exist and never get delivered. Or somthing like that. Will be interesting to see what attackers come up with.
Could be useful (Score:2)
This could genuinely be useful. I often find myself paying $5 more for the same product on amazon vs retyping my address and CC number of umpteenth time. If an AI agent could do it for me, I would pick the cheaper option. (only as long as MC is willing to pick up the tab, when AI screws up)
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Sorry to say I think what you're imagining is not what you'll get.
The assumption that firms will provide the kind of data that allows the AI agent to compare truly like products is very tenuous.
The open web already theoretically permits this, with a few exceptions like travel: Kayak/Expedia/etc, a little bit in cars (though there's really only one entity selling each physical car).
Overall there are surprisingly few vertical websites that actually compare the same item across multiple vendors. Many sites str
automated spending (Score:3)
Gee where do I sign up? Thank goodness Mastercard is helping me choose the best way pay because I was just frozen at the Checkout unsure what to do.
What could go wrong??! (Score:2)
If unauthorized purchases will continue to happen on my account, at least it will be something I kinda want.... erg
-m
As long as the AI pays the bill. (Score:1)
I think having an AI that buys me stuff and pays the bill is a great idea. My question is how the AI is going to earn the money to do that.
I say that somewhat in jest, but it seems to me that an AI that's really intelligent would be able to earn money itself rather than just spend money I earn.
In other words, I want an AI that serves me, I don't want to be the servant of the AI.
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What if you gave an AI $10k and told it to play the stock market?
Re: As long as the AI pays the bill. (Score:2)
It will "lose" them to another AI, and then both AIs will divide the money between themselves.
Re: As long as the AI pays the bill. (Score:2)
Yeah, can both book profits of different sizes but still profits, because the stock market and derivatives markets effectively multiply money through debt instruments and futures contracts and then you just let the Fed print enough to back those private promises in a panic?
Re: As long as the AI pays the bill. (Score:2)
They don't like to lose, so it'll lie to you and tell you you're a millionaire.
Re: As long as the AI pays the bill. (Score:2)
Why do you assume it will default to Bernie Madoff?
AI find me threads that make the ladies moist (Score:2)
Craving that you never knew you had (Score:2)
until the AI overlord came around.
fair enough (Score:2)
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But you'll still be subject to income taxes
Insulating you from the details (Score:2)
They say it will reduce friction, but it will really just insulate you from the details of why a purchase won't be in your best interests. Anybody remember some of the travel/hotel booking companies in the 90's? They did the same thing. Certain details didn't come to light until after a purchase was made.
My first rule of buying products and services. NEVER accept offers to buy something from anyone who pitches something to you. Always seek out what you want to buy, and only then after making an assessment o
Re: Insulating you from the details (Score:2)
In a world where packaging and advertising return more than actual widget manufacture, how much of an ivory-tower fantasy are your price signals?
Hallucinations (Score:2)
I can't wait to see what hallucinations these AIs will have, and what people will end up receiving.
And I'm sure someone will end up paying for and receiving random stuff without having asked the AI for anything.
Why. Bother? (Score:1)
If the AI has to check in with me to figure out what shoes to buy, it's useless.
What I want is an AI that can be told "get me a new pair of shoes", and the shoes show up at my door with no further input from me.
The AI needs to:
1). Figure out what kind of shoes I want.
2). Determine how much I should spend.
3). Pick a pair of shoes.
4). Determine the payment method.
5). Buy the shoes.
If all it does is ask me a bunch of fucking questions and then presents available options, it isn't very useful to me.
Re: Why. Bother? (Score:2)
Did you just say you want a neural-linked AI?
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No. I was taking about buying shoes. I think you gave me confused with another poster.
Merely using firefox gets your transactions flagge (Score:2)
But they're going to go ahead and let random AI bots buy stuff? Good luck with that. I would hate to be retailer right now.