Google Launches ‘Universal Cart’ for AI-Powered Shopping Google is moving to put itself at the center of how people shop online, unveiling new AI systems that track purchases across its services and can even spend on users’ behalf.

Early steps toward “agentic” shopping

In the run-up to Google I/O 2026, the company had already been experimenting with AI tools that could call stores about inventory and semi-automate online purchases, hinting at a larger shift toward what analysts call “agentic commerce.” At the conference on May 19, Google made that direction explicit.

The company announced Universal Cart, described as an AI-powered shopping hub that lets users add products from Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail into a single, persistent cart. Powered by Gemini, it can track price drops, show price history, send back‑in‑stock alerts, and run compatibility checks—for example, warning if a CPU won’t work with a chosen motherboard and suggesting alternatives.

From recommendations to autonomous buying

Universal Cart builds on Google Wallet and the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard that enables checkout either directly through Google or via a handoff to a merchant’s site. UCP is expanding to more categories and countries, with launch partners including major retailers and Shopify merchants.

At I/O, Google also updated its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), first announced in 2025, to let AI agents complete purchases autonomously within user‑defined limits and under cryptographically signed mandates. TechCrunch notes that this turns assistants from “passive recommendation tools into active participants in online commerce,” giving Google visibility into more of the shopping journey.

Competing visions and trust concerns

The Next Web frames the move as Google’s “most ambitious bid yet to become the default middleman in online commerce,” in a global race that includes Alibaba and Amazon in what could be a $5 trillion market by 2030. The Verge emphasizes the consumer side, asking, “Would you let robots spend your money? Google is betting on it,” and arguing that widespread adoption will depend on whether shoppers and retailers trust Google to sit in the middle of nearly every transaction.

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