Among the latest from Google’s I/O is a series of updates to Gemini and new product launches that offer price monitoring and product suggestions for AI shopping.
Google has introduced new AI-powered shopping features dubbed the Universal Cart, the firm announcemed at I/O 2026.
This is intelligent shopping hub that uses agentic AI to enable users shop in real-time instead of bringing them search results.
The personal assistant tool works across merchants and Google’s services allowing users to add things to their shopping basket while browsing using search, watching YouTube and even answering Gmail.
Once a product is added to the basket, Universal Cart works in the background to find deals, price drops and notify the user when an item is back in stock. It also analyses customer behaviour to offer suggestions.
Universal Cart uses Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), Gemini models and intelligent reasoning to anticipate user needs.
The feature will be available across brands such as Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair and Shopify merchants such as Fenty and Steve Madden. The tech giant usually partners directly with brands and confirmed: “No matter which way you buy, the brand stays the merchant of record.”
Universal Car will be rolled out across search and Gemini app in the US this summer, with YouTube and Gmail to follow.
Further updates to Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) look to streamline the checkout process itself. Google Pay can be used in just a few taps to purchase with many brands, or transfer items to the merchant’s site to complete purchases.
In addition, a new payment feature, Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) will enable AI agents to purchase on a user’s behalf – but with strict boundaries, spending caps, and approved products.
Gemini updates for content creation
Google is also introducing Gemini Omni Flash for video – helping users create content with prompts, combining images, audio, video and text as input and generate high-quality videos “grounded in Gemini’s real-world knowledge”.
The update will allow users to edit video with natural language, building on the previous instructions. ”Your characters stay consistent, the physics hold up and the scene remembers what came before,” said Koray Kavukcuoglu chief technical officer at Google DeepMind.
“Gemini Omni doesn’t just build scenes that look real, it reasons about what should happen next. It combines an intuitive understanding of physics with Gemini’s knowledge of history, science and cultural context, bridging the gap from photorealism to meaningful storytelling,” Kavukcuoglu explained.
What does this mean for advertisers?
This is a shake up for retailers, advertisers, and the whole online shopping landscape. Universal Cart removes the human in the loop in online shopping experiences, making advertising on retailer sites less effective. It also changes the potency of sponsored posts on search engines, and moving further towards zero-click.
It comes alongside other updates pushing for agentic AI across search, with the tech giant clearly pushing the technology in all areas.
This will likely affect publishers, advertisers, and affiliates most, as it is a step towards removing the human audience for content – it will be difficult to craft campaigns, which cater to AI scraping bots and also appeal to human preferences.
