Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels

The prospect of AI agents managing online holiday shopping remains a future aspiration, not a present reality. A key obstacle is the ongoing conflict between chatbot developers and major retailers concerning user data ownership and access. This contention, while shaping the evolution of e-commerce, significantly hinders the immediate deployment of AI for fully automated holiday shopping experiences. Until these data disputes are resolved, consumers will largely need to navigate the holiday season sales themselves.