TikTok rolls out an AI shopping assistant and one-click checkout

TikTok announced Monday that it’s launching an AI shopping assistant and a new in-app checkout feature that lets users buy directly from brands.

TikTok describes its new Shopping Assistant as a conversational AI agent designed to help users discover and purchase products. The company says the assistant understands context and remembers users’ preferences and needs throughout the conversation. It offers real-time, AI-powered shopping guidance, such as product details, shipping information, sizing, availability, and helping complete a purchase.

As for the new checkout feature, TikTok says users can buy directly from a brand from their For You feed (the app’s main, algorithm-driven video feed) with one click.

The new features could allow TikTok to capture more of users’ shopping journeys, and potentially more transaction value, without sending them elsewhere. By pairing a shopping assistant with direct payments, TikTok is turning its impulse-driven discovery feed into a place where users can get answers to questions about a product and make a purchase on the spot.

By building an AI assistant for shopping directly in its app, TikTok also appears to be hoping that users will stay within its platform when they have questions about a product, rather than turning to outside AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.