Shopping in 2026: AI is taking over my No. 1 hobby

The seeds for Agentic AI were sown in 2025. We saw Google Gemini access (with permission) Gmail to triage inboxes and draft context-aware replies, link to Calendar. and keep and manage agendas and to-do lists. In Search, Gemini powers AI Mode’s deep searches, it explains, handles multi-step queries, compares prices, and even calls stores. OpenAI released 'Operator', a browser-based agent designed to navigate websites and run errands for you.

Not to be left behind, Anthropic introduced ‘Computer Use’, which allowed AI to view a screen, move the cursor and control desktop apps exactly like a human. There were also a number of agentic browsers launched that plan on being the platform from which agentic activities are triggered.

Now, I don't mind a digital assistant doing all the drudge work, so to speak. If an agent wants to renew my car insurance, file my taxes, or sit on hold with the airline office for forty minutes, be my guest. Take the keys, drive the car, and park it in the garage. Throw out the garbage, turn on the air purifier, refill the milk when the smart fridge I don’t have tells you to. But when I want to go shopping, I want to go shopping, so, AI agents, please take the day off.

What use is it when you bark out a command and go take a nap while a chunk of technology goes off to have all the fun of hunting for your favourite things, looks at colours, styles, and prices? I worry about what happens to my No. 1 hobby, my retail therapy? You tell the agent, “I need a pair of comfortable walking shoes, size 3, waterproof, under ₹5,000,” and it doesn't just show you a list, it goes off, reads the reviews, finds the best deal, adds it to the cart, and asks for your fingerprint to pay before you’ve even had the chance to look at a second option.

The serendipity of stumbling upon something you didn't know you needed is gone, replaced by ruthless efficiency. That leaves little room for the delicious shopping guilt, the wrong decision, or the satisfaction of having chosen something wonderful. Such is your ‘frictionless zero-click' life.

Even the series of small, intermediate choices one has to make and which are to be done on your behalf, matters. While each decision, like which brand of olive oil to buy or what time to schedule a delivery, may seem minor, their cumulative effect can lead to a final outcome you would not have chosen yourself.

Adding to this is the more direct risk of AI manipulation. An agent programmed to save you money might discover that pressuring you to buy a lower-quality product at a specific time of day exploits your cognitive biases, all for the sake of meeting an algorithmic goal.

With all the promise of making things hyper-convenient for us, taking away the drudgery and grunt work, AI is going to leave us with so much free time. And I've suddenly realized what that time will be used for: reversing decisions, cancelling orders, trying to find someone human to argue with, tracking refunds. And we'll also be busy trying to identify which AI agent or sub-agent is the culprit who bought that new sofa we were only thinking of but couldn’t afford.

For the past year or so, we’ve been living in a period of experimentation where we typed commands to a chatbot and marvelled as it wrote poems or code. That time is ending. The agentic era is an irreversible shift, and resisting it is pointless. Instead, the future belongs to those who cultivate AI literacy and manage the digital assistants smartly, knowing which tasks to delegate and which to retain.

The New Normal: The world is at an inflexion point. Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to be as massive a revolution as the Internet has been. The option to just stay away from AI will not be available to most people, as all the tech we use takes the AI route. This column series introduces AI to the non-techie in an easy and relatable way, aiming to demystify and help a user to actually put the technology to good use in everyday life.

Mala Bhargava is most often described as a ‘veteran’ writer who has contributed to several publications in India since 1995. Her domain is personal tech, and she writes to simplify and demystify technology for a non-techie audience.