Target puts customers on the hook for AI shopping assistant errors

[midian182]

A hot potato: One of the many concerns surrounding AI, especially agentic AI, is who is responsible when the system makes a mistake. If you use Target's upcoming AI shopping assistant and it orders items you didn't ask for, you might have to pay for them.

Target is one of many retailers jumping on the AI bandwagon by introducing an assistant that can suggest products and complete purchases for customers. The pitch is convenience: less browsing, fewer clicks, and an easier way to fill a cart. The risk is that shoppers may end up handing over more control than they realize.

But like all generative AI systems, the Gemini-powered tool used by Target can get things wrong.

It seems Target is already covering its back for when these instances occur. The retailer updated its terms and conditions on March 22, stating that if a customer authorizes the Gemini agent to act on their behalf, any transaction performed by the AI would be "considered transactions authorized by you."

Essentially, the T&Cs state that even if the bot orders the wrong items, you'll still have to pay for them. The terms add that users are responsible for reviewing activity performed by the Agentic Commerce Agent.

Target even admits to AI's many imperfections. "Target does not purport to guarantee that an Agentic Commerce Agent will act exactly as you intend in all circumstances," the terms state, before reiterating the importance of customers reviewing orders.

Target also does not guarantee that third-party AI tools "will act exactly as you intend in all circumstances."

A Target spokesperson told Business Insider that all products bought using Gemini will still be eligible for returns or exchanges, subject to its standard return policy. That offers some reassurance, but it does little to address the bigger concern: who takes the blame when AI makes purchasing decisions on a customer's behalf.

Both Amazon and Walmart have rolled out their own AI assistants – Rufus and Sparky, respectively. Walmart also warns customers to review and verify purchases made using the AI as it can make errors, produce omissions, and misunderstand user inputs. Amazon, meanwhile, emphasizes the safety of its system in its AI disclosures.

Walmart recently found itself under scrutiny over two US patents it secured this year. They cover automated markdowns and machine learning-based demand forecasting. One system would dynamically and automatically update item prices to implement markdowns based on data such as predicted demand and consumers' price sensitivity. AI-powered dynamic pricing, essentially.

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Target puts customers on the hook for AI shopping assistant errors

 

[The Talking Tech]

Not until Trump gets out of the White House we won't see any sort of A.I regulation to be implemented on corporations...so Target among other companies are taking advantage of the caos while the consumer is feeling like we are back in the wild wild west era with no guidance on who can provide any solution to the A.I problem.

The midterms can't come soon enough!

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I don't understand what "AI" would be necessary for in this situation.

People can't be bothered anymore to take a couple of minutes to order what they want, check out and go do a pickup?
Is it too difficult to go to the store and do your own shopping?

Damn. Society is getting lazier and lazier.

 

[JMGuy]

At first, my gut said, “Wow, what a terrible company.” Then I thought for a moment and realized that, if you’re dumb enough to let a probabilistic tool make financial decisions for you, then my tiny violin factory has plenty in stock. And you’re more than welcome to purchase as many as you like using an AI agent. Although, unlike Target, all sales here are final.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Walmart and Lowes curbside pickup and home delivery human shoppers make errors that the customer has to fix. Walmart at least often gives it to you for free so you don’t have to return it.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

I don't understand what "AI" would be necessary for in this situation.

People can't be bothered anymore to take a couple of minutes to order what they want, check out and go do a pickup?
Is it too difficult to go to the store and do your own shopping?

Damn. Society is getting lazier and lazier.

Time is money (or fun).

Why waste your life walking around a grocery store when stores will do it for free? (most grocery shoppers it’s just a minimum order)

Flip side is people are so busy trying to make ends meet they’ll take any time savings they can. You act like ordering from Amazon is lazy compared to driving to the store and back.

 

[BlackyNoir]

I don't understand what "AI" would be necessary for in this situation.

Because many billions have been spent on AI, so how else corporations will see a return on their investment?

It's the old solution in search of a problem. Well, calling it a solution might be overstating it.

 

[Hecate91]

AI is completely unnecessary for this, but of course they need a reason to sell it as a convenience.
The laziness of this is just sad, it doesn't take long at all to order groceries, or have a grocery list without wandering through every aisle. This is even lazier than ordering groceries from Amazon, which is often more expensive than getting in the car and going to the store.

 

[Hecate91]

Not until Trump gets out of the White House we won't see any sort of A.I regulation to be implemented on corporations...so Target among other companies are taking advantage of the caos while the consumer is feeling like we are back in the wild wild west era with no guidance on who can provide any solution to the A.I problem.

The midterms can't come soon enough!

Even if there would be regulations implemented on AI, it'll take a while to undo all of the AI slop, and companies will probably fight back and lobby against any regulatory action because they're wasting billions on an unstable AI bubble.

 

[godrilla]

Not until Trump gets out of the White House we won't see any sort of A.I regulation to be implemented on corporations...so Target among other companies are taking advantage of the caos while the consumer is feeling like we are back in the wild wild west era with no guidance on who can provide any solution to the A.I problem.

The midterms can't come soon enough!

As long as we have a scapegoat for all our problems via orange man bad it's okay for consumers not to review their carts as usual to complete the purchase.
Notice the article doesn't mention anything about the 90 day refund policy that Target allows on these purchases.
Returns https://share.google/Vs3NQdSAuAx5PWUNs

Stay triggered!

 

[Rocky4040]

It is pretty easy do not let the AI do your shopping and you won't have a problem. Are people getting this lazy these days that they cannot take the time to do their own shopping anymore?

 

[gamerk2]

I don't understand what "AI" would be necessary for in this situation.

People can't be bothered anymore to take a couple of minutes to order what they want, check out and go do a pickup?
Is it too difficult to go to the store and do your own shopping?

Damn. Society is getting lazier and lazier.

There are already a number of studies that show people who use AI tend to accept it without a second thought.

AI plus the Internet is leading to the end of independent free thought, exactly as planned.

 

[onebignerd]

Severe brain atrophy, no critical thinking or decision making skills!! To lazy to even question GPS directions, take control of a Tesla on autopilot, going to a chatGTP for advice and they now require AI to create and complete a shopping list! AI has ZERO intelligence, it has no clue what you are saying or what it says in response, it is sophisticated word prediction!

Try using the 3 pound organ inside your skull! Like muscles it gets stronger the more you use it, learning is not a destination, it is a life time process.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Not until Trump gets out of the White House we won't see any sort of A.I regulation to be implemented on corporations...so Target among other companies are taking advantage of the caos while the consumer is feeling like we are back in the wild wild west era with no guidance on who can provide any solution to the A.I problem.

The midterms can't come soon enough!

Sooooo.....The States cant pass legislation on this because.....

Ohh, right, they can! Crying about Orange Man wont fix any of this. Just like states are moving to ban digital pricing, they can move to force companies to take responsibility for AI errors too!

 

[Che Cazzo]

Sooooo.....The States cant pass legislation on this because.....

Ohh, right, they can! Crying about Orange Man wont fix any of this. Just like states are moving to ban digital pricing, they can move to force companies to take responsibility for AI errors too!

As if it's not bad enough some simple minds have elected a know-nothing felon for president, now they are acting as if the clown didn't write Executive Orders (one of the 100s he writes) to protect his biggest donors, the tech bros and their AI factories!!

Learn to google and search for it, it's out there. Just because you didn't read, it doesn't mean he didn't do it!!

The willful ignorance is truly astounding!!

 

[Endymio]

Sooooo.....The States cant pass legislation on this because.....

Ohh, right, they can! Crying about Orange Man wont fix any of this. Just like states are moving to ban digital pricing, they can move to force companies to take responsibility for AI errors too!

I do occasionally wish I could discard the burdens of rationality and logical thought, and simply respond to every problem in the world by simply bleating 'ORANGE MAN BAD!'.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Sooooo.....The States cant pass legislation on this because.....

Ohh, right, they can! Crying about Orange Man wont fix any of this. Just like states are moving to ban digital pricing, they can move to force companies to take responsibility for AI errors too!

In a sensitive situations such as A.I the States would be more reluctant on passing any legislation because of corporate retribution and that business leaving the States in question....that's why Federal law is required.

 

[RudyBob]

The woke always blame someone else

 

[Karlos95]

Not until Trump gets out of the White House we won't see any sort of A.I regulation to be implemented on corporations...so Target among other companies are taking advantage of the caos while the consumer is feeling like we are back in the wild wild west era with no guidance on who can provide any solution to the A.I problem.

The midterms can't come soon enough!

You actually think it matters which president is in charge?

They are all the same, all under the same rule.

 

[JMGuy]

There are already a number of studies that show people who use AI tend to accept it without a second thought.

AI plus the Internet is leading to the end of independent free thought, exactly as planned.

Please. This is not some conspiracy. This is how people behave. Nobody is forcing anyone to stop thinking/learning about the dangers out there and outsource their brain. This is supply and demand and people are simply willing to be lazier and dumber than you want to believe. And yes, that is supremely frustrating (and terrifying). Conclusion: make your kids read more books and use the internet for education and not media consumption.

 

[BobHome]

So I guess the 'proper' way to use their AI is:
1. Make your list.
2. Maybe put some things int eh cart, let AI sort out the rest.
3. Check your cart to find what AI added.
4. Correct what AI added.
5. Finish adding to the cart.
6. Check your cart to find what AI else added.
7. Correct again what AI added.
8. Double-check (triple?) what is now in your cart.
9. Check out.
a. BUT before pressing Complete Order, check that AI did no sneak in other stuff (but you need this too!), or fees (AI is expensive, after all), or incorrect tax.

Sounds to me like using it 'properly' would take longer.

 

[jeffbert]

As usual, some people just cannot help but make a tech subject political.

 

[OortCloud]

Yet another utterly pointless use of AI that nobody actually asked for or wants.

 

[disinfect8280]

Please. This is not some conspiracy. This is how people behave. Nobody is forcing anyone to stop thinking/learning about the dangers out there and outsource their brain. This is supply and demand and people are simply willing to be lazier and dumber than you want to believe. And yes, that is supremely frustrating (and terrifying). Conclusion: make your kids read more books and use the internet for education and not media consumption.

Yes and no. We have free will and can choose to use it or not and you are correct about the broader market decisions, but you see how the administration is making AI their top priority. The government always picks winners and losers and the winners are usually not the best for the general populace. Similarly this trend goes so far as music, there was a rap singer interview I saw recently that came out and said he gets paid more to put out low vibe music. And to your point, people CAN choose not to listen to it, but they know it will catch on so they promote it over everything else to flood the market and make it easily accessible. So many things like that get top priority of the government or megacorps. Tell me one time the government or megacorps that control the stock market promoted or pumped money into anything to do with free thought or self-sustainability.

 

[JMGuy]

but they know it will catch on so they promote it over everything else to flood the market and make it easily accessible

Right. We live in a capitalist society. Choosing to publish and maximize the biggest profit-winner is incentivized. There is nothing individually nefarious about that on its face.

Tell me one time the government or megacorps that control the stock market promoted or pumped money into anything to do with free thought or self-sustainability.

That’s super easy. Here are three off the top of my head:
* U.S. clean energy expansion (2024–2025)
* The Peace Corps
* Corporate open-source (Red Hat, Mozilla)

There are a ton of examples. There’s a reason people want to come to the U.S. If you think it’s bad here, you aren’t paying attention to how bad it can be.

Government and corporations are filled with people who care about making a difference. This idea that, “it’s all just circling the toilet so why bother,” is a cancer that kills the effort needed to sustain free thinking.

Of course there is waste, greed, etc.; that’s just a fact of life. But anyone who thinks some utopian future is somehow achievable and/or being stolen, isn’t living in the real world.

So, go volunteer, start a business, run for office. Engage with making the world a better place in whatever way you can. THAT is how we maintain free-thought and self-sustainability.

My 2 cents anyway. Cheers.