Google’s rumored development of ‘Project Jarvis’, an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can direct web browsers to perform online tasks, signals Silicon Valley’s latest attempt to transform e-commerce through AI-powered digital agents .
The information reported that the initiative, which could launch as early as December alongside Google’s new Gemini language models, aims to automate everything from vacation planning to online shopping, raising both excitement and concerns about the future of digital commerce.
The effort highlights a broader industry shift toward AI agents that can independently navigate websites and execute complex transactions on behalf of users.
Google’s system would work by capturing and interpreting screenshots of users’ computer screens, then performing actions such as clicking buttons or filling in text fields – although current processing times of several seconds per action suggest the technology still growing up.
Meanwhile, competitors like it Anthropic has launched its own AI agent toolsdesigned to perform tasks from form filling to data analysis, suggesting a race is on to determine how consumers will interact with online businesses in the future.
Rise of the agents
The rise of AI agents presents both opportunities and challenges for online retailers and service providers. While automated purchases can increase transaction volume and efficiency, companies may need to redesign their websites to accommodate these new AI-powered interactions. The development also raises questions about how online commerce could evolve as these technologies become more widespread.
“Agents need tools to touch and feel the company to have real impact,” Mike Finley CTO and co-founder at AnswerRocket told PYMNTS.
“Agents need tools to sense and respond to events in a business. Observing the company can look into a database and monitor IoT equipment [Internet of Things]or attending important meetings. In response, you can, for example, perform scenario analyses, make price recommendations or reroute deliveries.”
Complementing people
Paul Harmonsenior manager data science at Atrium, told PYMNTS that AI agents in business come in two different forms: support agents (or copilots) who work alongside humans to enhance their capabilities and decision-making, and autonomous agents that can operate independently.
While assistant agents provide information and recommendations while humans maintain control, autonomous agents can take actions independently without human supervision. This fundamental distinction means that assistive agents augment human work, while autonomous agents can completely replace specific human roles.
“It’s worth noting that the risk level for using autonomous agents is higher than for assistive agents and some use cases lend themselves more naturally to one or the other,” he said.
Harmon said autonomous agents can handle cases, resolve issues and refer to a person when complicated situations arise or additional support is needed. Autonomous agents can replace some early sales activities or help drive automated sales coaching to help reps be more productive.
“Either way, these tools don’t replace people; they replace the more boring parts of those people’s roles, allowing them to focus on more challenging problems,” he added. “Autonomous agents are similar to chatbots, only they are more advanced and can handle a wider range of tasks and situations.”
While AI agents may be new, implementing AI for operational automation and optimization, especially in customer service and support, has been delivering measurable results for some time. Chris Brownchairman of Intelygenz, told PYMNTS. He said a company in the telecom sector has successfully deployed an automated AI ticket management solution to handle the growing influx of customer queries.
“This system learns from historical and real-time data to deploy turnkey AI agents that can manage a wide range of conversations – from billing, account management and product returns – without human intervention,” he added.
