Retailers remain wary of AI agents designed for online shopping, even as technology companies market them as personal assistants. The Verge reports that the practical experience of using these tools differs sharply from their promotional positioning. While tech firms frame AI agents as a democratization of labor previously reserved for the wealthy, users describe the process as akin to sending an anxious teenager to a store. In practice, the agents require extensive instructions and specifications to function. They frequently encounter technical problems and often return with solutions that do not match the specific requests made by the user. Although the agents technically complete a task, they often fail to execute it in the manner the user intended or would have approached it themselves.