Get ready for a retail revolution! Artificial intelligence is poised to disrupt the $1.2 trillion U.S. e-commerce industry. This episode delves into how AI tools, such as chatbots and automated agents, are set to potentially replace traditional retail sites and apps by recommending products and even completing purchases.

This seismic shift is sparking a new talent war as companies seek both AI experts and commerce veterans. We explore the key executives and initiatives at the forefront, including Prakhar Mehrotra leading new AI roles at PayPal, Carl Rivera reimagining Shopify for the AI era, Larry Colagiovanni overseeing e-commerce features for Microsoft's Copilot, and Fidji Simo joining OpenAI to generate revenue from areas like advertising or affiliate fees through shopping features.

Discover how companies are developing AI agent payment tools, aiming to be "the infrastructure for agents for commerce", and how insiders are tailoring existing AI features for shopping. We look at figures like Dhruv Bhalla heading consumer verticals at AI search engine Perplexity, Jaclyn Konzelmann leading Google's AI agent Project Mariner, Rajiv Mehta developing Amazon's Rufus chatbot, and Jeff Weinstein working on agentic commerce services at Stripe.

Learn about the challenges AI faces in navigating existing retail sites and the efforts by companies like Microsoft and Shopify to encourage brands, retailers, and merchants to share product information in a more structured way to fuel AI shopping. We discuss why adaptability and a strong consumer lens are crucial for candidates in these roles.

Tune in to understand the executives, innovations, and the brewing talent war that are fundamentally reshaping the future of online shopping.