Meta Tests AI Shopping Feature in Chatbot for US Users

Meta wants your next purchase to start with a prompt. 

The social media giant is testing an AI shopping research feature inside its chatbot that builds instant product carousels with prices attached.

Bloomberg reports the experiment is live for some US users, as Meta pushes to bring product discovery directly into its AI assistant.

Where chat meets the catalog

Ask for a product, and the chatbot answers with a scrollable carousel of options instead of a wall of text. Each card includes a product image, the brand name, price, and a direct link to the retailer’s website, along with short bullet points explaining why it made the cut, according to Bloomberg. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the company is testing the shopping tool but declined to share further details.

The feature is being tested with some users on the Meta AI web interface. There’s no checkout button inside the chat itself; clicking a result sends users to the merchant’s site to continue browsing or complete a purchase.

Commerce powered by context

This isn’t a generic product search dressed up as chat. Bloomberg found the assistant tailors its recommendations using signals Meta already holds, including a user’s location and gender inferred from a user’s name. In testing, a request for puffer jackets surfaced options aligned with New York and women’s styles, showing how context shapes the results.

That approach builds on a change Meta outlined last year, when it said conversations with its AI would begin feeding into personalization systems across its apps, calling it “a natural progression” of those efforts. 

The shopping tool keeps that logic inside the chatbot, turning prompts into product lists filtered through Meta’s data layer.

On its January earnings call, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will ship new products “in the coming months” to deliver a “uniquely personal experience” based on people’s “history, interests, content and relationships.”

AI shopping and the race to monetize

Meta has not said whether it collects referral fees from purchases made through the chatbot’s links, and declined to comment on whether brands that advertise across its platforms receive any priority in recommendations. 

While Meta isn’t addressing the business mechanics yet, Zuckerberg has previewed “new agentic shopping tools” designed to surface “the right, very specific set of products” from “the businesses in our catalog,” suggesting the company is thinking beyond simple recommendations.

The test comes as AI companies increasingly tie revenue to conversations. Both OpenAI and Google rolled out shopping features inside ChatGPT and Gemini last November. As chatbots start steering shoppers, the real fight is over who captures the sale.

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