Google AI Mode shows same products 21.6% more expensive than traditional search

https://productrise.app/blog/google-ai-mode-prefers-more-expensive-products

67•DeepLogin•2h ago

Comments

WarmWash•33m ago

At least in a few examples it looks like it is surfacing the manufacturers page, and then random 3rd parties have it cheaper, which is pretty commmon.

consp•16m ago

Then again, that makes it more expensive for the inconspicuous buyer who has no idea, which is a considerably larger population than HN readers.

WarmWash•10m ago

Sure but in my own experience, the cheapest seller often means you are setting yourself up for headache if anything goes wrong.

It's easy to envision a parallel story about AI recommending sketchy vendors with no protections.

JeremyBarbosa•15m ago

Yeah and I know one issue with this is that sites like Amazon tend to have greater protections against scraping from AIs, so there is not much AI providers could do if they wanted to find the true lowest price.

skybrian•4m ago

I wonder if Amazon will lose enough sales to more bot-friendly vendors that they’ll notice this and do something about it?

ellisv•1m ago

Yes, I feel this is like when I look for a hotel and see a low price through a sketchy website but it is because it is a non-refundable member-only price. I wonder what the actual click through prices are. Sellers might try to serve higher prices to AI models but I'm not sure that would be useful to them.

shadowgovt•20m ago

That is interesting.

The next question I'd ask is what the quality / reliability signal looks like. It is entirely possible that the results differ, but the organic search results are SEO'd garbage that lead to knock-offs, fell-off-the-trucks, or refurbs-sold-as-new.

But nonetheless, the fact they differ at all is an intriguing result.

Sharlin•18m ago

Hey, that's actually a pretty useful feature if it helps discourage people from buying so much stuff!

Yhippa•16m ago

My guess is that there are two different teams working on these.

Oras•9m ago

I tried “mens cycling helmet specialized” via normal search and AI search.

On the surface, AI showed results of £45 while normal results showed £39.99 and this particular result didn’t show at all in the AI search, even when clicking more.

However, small fine print was the £39.99 had a £4.99 delivery. Can it be that AI is optimised for full price including shipping?

cyanydeez•3m ago

Also, not defending AI, but id gladly install a ublockoriginAI to filter out scam products and low quality knock offs. Would never trust google to do this.

In your example, any helmet by a manufacturer who has zero safety tests, regulatory stamps, warranty, etc, should be filtered out.

Any product with anomalous price needs heavy scrutiny.

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