Meta turns to AI to make shopping easier on Instagram and Facebook | TechCrunch

Meta is looking to leverage AI’s ability to inform and potentially influence shoppers to increase sales on the company’s social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram. At the Shoptalk 2026 conference this week, the tech giant announced it will begin testing a new experience that allows consumers to see more product information and a summary of user reviews after they click on an ad or visit a website from Facebook or Instagram. The feature is similar to Amazon’s use of generative AI to enhance its product reviews, introduced in 2023. Instead of requiring users to read through hundreds of reviews to get a sense of what people say about a given product, Amazon uses AI to summarize the reviews into a short paragraph that appears on the product page. Meta will also use AI in the same way. In the new pop-up experience that appears, the AI feature can offer a round-up of “what people are saying” about the given product. This may include a brief intro followed by key bullet points. Image Credits:Meta However, in Meta’s apps, the feature will also provide other general information, including details about the brand itself, recommended products, potential discounts or sales, and, on an individual product’s page, a button to add the item to the user’s cart. Image Credits:Meta This is then followed by an updated checkout flow, built in partnership with payment providers Stripe and PayPal, which allows consumers to complete the purchase in just a tap. Meta says it’s already work...