AI Lets You Buy Nothing And Keep Everyone Else From Buying It Too

At last, a personal shopping assistant for the person who doesn't want anything but would like everybody else to wait.

In The Verge's test of AI shopping agents, reporter Mia Sato asked Meta's Muse to add ten new listings from a favorite brand to her cart on The RealReal. The resale site reserves carted items for 20 minutes. She then told the agent to add them again whenever the hold expired.

It did this all day, until she stopped it. She had no intention of buying the items.

This is a significant advance on leaving a jacket in your cart while you think about it. Previously, an inconsiderate shopper had to return periodically to remain inconsiderate. There were interruptions. Meals. Sleep. Moments in which the jacket might escape and become clothing.

Now the jacket can spend a full working day being almost purchased. Nothing moves except the frontier of technology.

The RealReal says it welcomes third-party agents while maintaining safeguards against automated activity that disrupts customers. It also sells early access to new items for $12 a month. You can pay to see the jacket sooner, then watch it enjoy a private audience with a computer that doesn't want it.

Meta says Muse asks permission before buying and applies ethical browsing principles to requests for things a human couldn't do, such as buying all the tickets to an event. The user can take over at any time.

Good. Nobody should spend money without permission. In this test, nobody had to. The system could inconvenience every interested shopper while observing the strictest possible budget of zero dollars.

Out of stock? No. Sold? No. Just being thought about at machine speed.