Shortly after Google announced its new Global Trade Protocol for AI-powered shopping agents, a consumer economy watchdog sounded the alarm.
In a now viral post on X viewed nearly 400,000 times, Lindsay Owens on Sunday wrote: “Big/bad news for consumers. Google is out today with an announcement about how they plan to integrate shopping into their AI offerings, including search and Gemini. The plan includes “personalized selling”. Ie. Analyzing your chat data and using it to overcharge you.”
Owens is executive director of the consumer economics think tank Groundwork Collaborative. Her concern stems from looking at Google’s roadmap, such as as well as deepening into some of its detailed specification documents. The roadmap includes a feature that will support “upselling,” which could help merchants push more expensive items to AI shopping agents.
He also highlighted Google’s plans to adjust prices for programs such as new member discounts or loyalty-based pricing, which Google CEO Sundar Pichai described when he announced the new protocol at the National Retail Federation conference.
After TechCrunch asked about Owens’ claims, Google publicly responded to X and spoke directly to TechCrunch to dismiss the validity of her concerns.
In a post on X, Google he replied that“These pricing claims are inaccurate. We strictly prohibit merchants from displaying prices on Google that are higher than what is reflected on their website, period. 1/ The term ‘upsell’ does not refer to overcharging. It is a standard way for retailers to display additional high-quality product options that may be of interest to others. merchants to offer a deal on *lower* price or add extra services like free shipping — can’t be used to raise prices.”
In a separate conversation with TechCrunch, a Google spokesperson said that Google Business Agent lacks functionality that would allow it to change a retailer’s pricing based on individual data.
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Owens also pointed out that Google’s technical documents regarding the handling of a buyer’s identity say that: “Scope complexity should be hidden in the consent screen shown to the user.”
A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch that it’s not about hiding what the user agrees to, but about consolidating actions (download, create, update, delete, cancel, complete) rather than making a user agree to each one individually.
Even if Owens’ concerns about this particular protocol aren’t what Google claims they are, her general case is worth thinking about.
He warns that shopping agents built by Big Tech could one day allow merchants to adjust prices based on what they think you’re willing to pay after analyzing your conversations and buying patterns with artificial intelligence. This is instead of charging everyone the same price. He calls it “surveillance pricing.”
While Google says its agents can’t do that now, it’s also true that Google is, at its heart, an advertising agency that serves brands and marketers. Last year, a federal court ordered Google to change some of its search business practices after ruling that the company engaged in anti-competitive behavior.
While many of us are excited to welcome a world where we have a team of AI agents handling annoying tasks for us (rescheduling doctor appointments, researching replacement mini blinds), it doesn’t take a clairvoyant to see the kinds of abuse that will be possible.
The problem is that the big tech companies best positioned to build practical shopping tools also have the most mixed incentives. Their business is based on serving sellers and collecting data about consumers.
This means AI markets could be a big opportunity for startups building independent technology. We’re seeing the first sprinkles of AI-powered capabilities. The start-ups like Dupewhich uses natural language queries to help people find affordable furniture and Bennywhich uses images and text for casual fashion, are early entrants into this space.
Until then, the old saying probably applies: buyer beware.
