Diwali is on November 8, and the festive sales are already screaming at me from every app. So this year, I tried an experiment: I handed my entire Diwali gift list to AI shopping assistants and told them to figure it out. Five gifts, a ₹20,000 budget, zero mall trips.
Here’s what each AI actually did — and whether any of them really "bought" anything.
The shopping list
My list: a dry-fruit gift hamper, diyas and home decor, a kurta for Dad, wireless earbuds for my cousin, and a small air fryer for Mom. I fed the same list to three AI assistants and watched. Spoiler: brilliant shoppers, terrible cashiers.
ChatGPT: the personal shopper who won’t touch your wallet
ChatGPT did the best research. It asked who each gift was for and my budget per item, then built a ranked shortlist with prices, reviews, and buy links. Its virtual try-on let me preview the kurta on a model.
The catch: ChatGPT doesn’t check out for you anymore. OpenAI tested Instant Checkout in September 2025 but dropped it in March 2026 — people loved researching in ChatGPT but still paid on merchant sites. It’s a world-class shopping advisor that walks you to the store door and waves goodbye.
Google’s Gemini: the one that nearly paid
This is where it got exciting. Google is testing a 'Buy' button in India on Flipkart listings inside Gemini and AI Mode, per a TechCrunch report in September 2026. Tap it and a Flipkart checkout opens inside the chat — no tab-switching. The test covers a small set of users and products like smartphones and electronics, with a wider rollout expected before the festive season.
But the direction is clear: Google’s agentic checkout already tracks prices down to size and color and buys on eligible merchant sites once you confirm. If it rolls out by Diwali, the AI that recommends the earbuds could also pay for them.
Perplexity and Alexa: the other two cashiers
Perplexity offers in-chat buying ("Buy with Pro") via PayPal — but it’s US-only, useless for my list. Its visual "Snap to Shop" did help me identify that brass diya set from a photo. Amazon’s assistant, now Alexa for Shopping (formerly Rufus), builds carts, sets price alerts, and auto-buys at your target price — again, US-only. Not every store welcomes AI agents either — Amazon even blocked Meta's Muse agent from its site
The honest verdict
AI is already an elite shopping researcher: it kills decision fatigue and remembers what you like. Over half of US shoppers now use AI while buying — after this week, I get it. But the "agent that does it all" dream is still half-baked in India, where checkout features are stuck in limited testing.
My spending through AI: ₹0. My savings from smarter choices and keeping the budget honest: roughly ₹3,000 in avoided bad buys.
One warning: scammers already build slick AI-generated fake festive-sale sites, so when an assistant sends you a merchant link, double-check the URL before paying. AI Diwali shopping is real — just keep your hand on the wallet for now.
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