- Google has launched a new Universal Cart shopping tool
- It works in the background to find deals and analyze your purchases
- It’s powered by Google’s Gemini AI model
In 2026, it feels like every tech company is frantically wedging artificial intelligence (AI) into every possible product and hoping something sticks. Google hasn’t quite gone that far just yet, but it’s now got your humble online shopping cart in its AI-powered crosshairs — and it could permanently change the way you make purchases on the web.
The Universal Cart is “a new agentic hub for shopping across Google” and “a truly intelligent shopping cart,” Google explained in a pre-I/O briefing attended by TechRadar. Unveiled in full at Google I/O 2026, it comes with AI features powered by the firm’s Gemini AI model that could help you score a discount or avoid mistakes with the items you’re purchasing.
What does that mean in practice? One of the main ideas is that Universal Cart works in the background. You might add an item to your cart on one website, then go off to watch a video or check your emails. While you’re doing that, Universal Cart gets busy: it can “find deals, price drops, give you insights on price history, and can even alert you when something comes back in stock,” Google said.
Aside from helping you save a bit of money, Universal Cart can also help you steer clear of errors at the checkout. For instance, if you’re building a PC, you might have added components to the cart that you want to use in said computer. But if, say, the motherboard and processor are not compatible, Universal Cart will analyze your proposed list, alert you to the problem, and then suggest alternative parts. That ensures you find out the incompatibility before you pull the trigger, not after.
Changing the way you shop
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Another supposed benefit of Universal Cart is the way it can surface perks associated with your payment cards. If you’ve got several cards that you use to make purchases, you might not remember all of the benefits you get from them. If those cards are registered with Universal Cart, it can tell you if you should use a specific card at a specific retailer in order to get a particular perk.
Universal Cart is designed to be used across websites and across devices. Everything you’ve added to your shopping bag at different retailers is collated in the Universal Cart, with items divided by seller. That way, you can see everything you’re aiming to purchase in one place. You still need to complete each purchase separately, but that can all be done from within Universal Cart — Google handles the payment process itself.
In our pre-I/O briefing, Google added that, since Universal Cart runs on Gemini, it “keeps getting smarter as our models keep improving.” That implies that your data could be used to train the feature over time, so if you’re not comfortable with your purchase data being fed into another AI black box, this tool might be one to avoid.
Universal Cart will be coming to US users of Google Search and the company’s Gemini app this summer, with YouTube and Gmail integrations following later this year. If it proves to be successful, Universal Cart will definitely be one to keep an eye on — it might change the way you shop forever.
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Source: www.techradar.com
