Senator Warren Doubts Google's AI Checkout Won't Rob Your Wallet Too Efficiently
KEY POINTS
- •Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressing fears about Gemini AI’s new checkout feature.
- •Google announced last month Gemini will allow direct purchases through a Universal Commerce Protocol developed with big retailers.
- •Warren is concerned this integration could exploit sensitive user data and manipulate consumers into spending more.
In a move that’s probably not on any consumer’s Christmas list, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a polite-yet-terrified letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, fretting that their shiny new Gemini AI chatbot – set to start selling you stuff directly using the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) – might secretly be channeling your deepest purchase regrets into the cash registers of Walmart, Target, Etsy, Shopify, and Wayfair. Google announced last month, presumably between its data hoarding and donut breaks, that your shopping future includes avoiding cart abandonment by buying within the chat itself. Warren fears this isn’t empowerment so much as handing over your wallet to an AI that knows where you live, plus extra pricing tricks that could make your credit card cry.
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Google’s Gemini bot is gearing up to sell you things inside chat, Senate worries it’ll upsell while stalking your shopping pain points. Because who doesn’t want an AI add-to-cart enthusiast living rent-free in their data?
Google partners with Walmart, Etsy, and others to turn your online chat into a checkout lane. Big Brother meets big savings? More like big spendings.
Senator Warren’s letter to Sundar Pichai reads like a breakup text from your wallet to Google’s AI: 'Please don’t hurt me anymore.'
Source: Theverge | Published: 2/4/2026 | Author: Emma Roth
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