Do Woolworths shoppers want Google AI to add items to purchase? We’ll find out soon

Woolworths has announced a partnership with Google to integrate agentic artificial intelligence into its chatbot Olive, launching in Australia later this year.

So far, Olive has mostly answered questions, solved problems, and directed customers to information.

Soon Olive will be able to do more: plan meals, interpret handwritten recipes, apply loyalty discounts and add suggested items directly to a customer’s online shopping cart.

Woolworths said Olive will not automatically complete purchases and customers will still need to approve and pay for orders.

This distinction is important, but it risks not understanding what is actually changing. By the time a shopper reaches the checkout, many of the key purchasing decisions may already have been made by the…