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Are you ready to hand over your wallet to AI and let it do your shopping for you? Maybe notbut the technology to do it is hitting the market. On Wednesday, Visa announced Visa Intelligent Commerce, which effectively allows AI agents to find and buy goods or services on behalf of consumers. While Visa itself doesnt create the AI agents, what its done is create the e-commerce backbone to allow it to happen. Consumers could use AI tools to track down potential purchases, but then those platforms would hand control back over to the human to complete the transaction. The big change with Visas technology is that, with the proper permissions enabled, AI agents can complete the purchase without going back to their human handler. The value-add, Visas Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell tells Fast Company, is that it frees up the cognitive load and time, delivering massively better outcomes, and more valueits going to deliver better shopping experiences. For example, a shopper can now request that an AI agent buy a bouquet for their mom as a Mothers Day gift, and the entire process requires little, if any additional input from the shopper. The AI may be able to find the particular flowers the consumers mother likes, at a desired price point, and have them delivered on or before Mothers Day. The shopper can breathe easy, and not put too much thought or effort into the transactionsomething that their mothers probably wouldnt want to know. As for the tech itself, Forestell says that getting AI agents set up to make payments involves getting a payment card credential to an agent, which he says is tech thats similar to Apple Pay or Google Paythe agent gets a token that can only be used by that agent. From there, and from Visas standpoint, two things need to occur: Visa needs to get a buy signal from a merchant that indicates an agent is making a purchase, and the confirmation that the transaction has completed. While there will be some lag between users adopting agentic payments en masse, as merchants, consumers, and financial institutions learn to trust them and use them efficiently. But Forestell says APIs will be available on Wednesday, so people and companies can begin to work with the technology.
Category:
E-Commerce
Pretend you and 99 peers had to duke it out against a gorilla. Would your squad emerge victorious? That debate has been dividing the internet over the past few days. The conversation originally surfaced on Reddit back in 2020, when a user posed the question in the r/whowouldwin subreddit. It recently reignited after the question was put to X users last week. The viral postnow with over 288 million viewssuggests that 100 men could defeat a single gorilla if everyone was dedicated to the task. Since then, arguments have raged across social media. MrBeast even joined the discussion: Need 100 men to test this, any volunteers? he wrote, alongside a fake thumbnail for a YouTube video based on the concept. Need 100 men to test this, any volunteers? pic.twitter.com/p2iQvOWbYJ— MrBeast (@MrBeast) April 28, 2025 Meanwhile, Elon Musk responded: Sure, whats the worst that could happen? Naturally, the internet had questions before picking a side. Are weapons allowed? What tactics are in play? Are we talking average guysor 100 Dwayne The Rock Johnsons? To help settle the debate, some turned to AI and gaming simulators. One viral post on X showed the gorilla dispatching 100 humans with apparent ease. someone simulated 100 men vs 1 gorilla pic.twitter.com/9F2hTldLDt— juju (@ayeejuju) April 28, 2025 Another user vibe coded a custom battle in Hytopia, a free-to-play gaming world. The gorilla won, they added. In yet another simulation, X users took issue with the unrealistic height advantage given to the gorilla (because, of course, accuracy matters here). The craziest thing about this trend is that it revealed how many people think gorillas are 15 feet tall, one person commented. someone made a simulator of the 1 gorilla vs 100 men pic.twitter.com/ZnIt7VXuCv— kira (@kirawontmiss) April 28, 2025 A primatologist brought in by Rolling Stone quickly shut the whole thing down, calling the premise entirely unrealistic. While adult male gorillas can weigh over 400 pounds and are estimated to be four to 10 times stronger than humans, they are in fact gentle giants who would avoid this conflict whenever possible, they explained. Still, as one X user put it: This gorilla conversation is real interweb discussions. Not all that other tomfoolery nonsense. And really, isnt it nice to see the internet putting its debating skills to positive use?
Category:
E-Commerce
Duolingo launched 148 new language classes that were built by generative AI, the company announced Wednesday. The move, which more than doubles it current language offering, comes as the gamified learning platform is facing criticism for replacing contract workers with artificial intelligence. “Developing our first 100 courses took about 12 years, and now, in about a year, were able to create and launch nearly 150 new courses. This is a great example of how generative AI can directly benefit our learners,” Duolingo CEO and cofounder Luis von Ahn said in a press release. “This launch reflects the incredible impact of our AI and automation investments, which have allowed us to scale at unprecedented speed and quality.” As of Wednesday, the language expansion makes the platforms seven most popular non-English languagesSpanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarinavailable across all supported user interface languages. This means that speakers of languages like Japanese, Hindi, and Mandarin can now learn any of these languages, not just English. According to the company, the new courses will initially focus on beginner levels, with more advanced content to follow in the coming months. The rapid expansion is part of Duolingo’s bet on artificial intelligence. Von Ahn said in an email to employees and posted to social media on Monday that it was shifting to become an “AI-first” company. That includes phasing out contractors who do work that AI can handle, approving headcount additions if a team can’t automate more of its work, and looking for AI skills when hiring. “This isn’t about replacing Duos with AI,” von Ahn wrote in the email. “It’s about removing bottlenecks so we can do more with the outstanding Duos we already have. We want you to focus on creative work and real problems, not repetitive tasks. We’re going to support you with more training, mentorship, and tooling for AI in your function.” Duolingo will likely share more about its mission when it reports first quarter 2025 earnings on Thursday. Shares of the company were up nearly 18% year-to-date on Wednesday afternoon and up 174% from its 2021 market debut.
Category:
E-Commerce
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