Meta aims to harness AI's capacity to inform and potentially sway shoppers, boosting sales across its social platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. At the Shoptalk 2026 conference this week, the company revealed plans to test a new feature that lets consumers view expanded product details and a summary of user reviews after clicking an ad or visiting a website via Facebook or Instagram. This approach mirrors Amazon's 2023 introduction of generative AI to enhance product reviews. Rather than asking users to sift through hundreds of reviews, Amazon's AI condenses them into a concise paragraph on the product page. Meta intends to apply AI similarly. In the new pop-up experience, the AI will provide a roundup of "what people are saying" about a product, potentially featuring a brief introduction followed by key bullet points.

Within Meta's apps, the feature will also deliver other general information, such as brand details, recommended products, potential discounts or sales, and, on individual product pages, a button to add items to the user's cart.

This leads to an updated checkout flow, developed in collaboration with payment providers Stripe and PayPal, enabling consumers to finalize purchases with a single tap. Meta notes it is already working on future integrations with Ayden and Shopify. Advertisers control which checkout partner they use, so when a consumer taps the "Buy Now" button, they can complete the purchase and fulfill the order while staying within Meta's app.

These checkout enhancements accompany other updates to Meta's product discovery tools. One update targets creators by offering a broader selection of affiliate partners on Facebook, as competition with TikTok intensifies. New affiliate additions include Amazon, eBay, and Temu in the United States, Mercado Libre in Latin America, and Shopee in Asia. Later this year, Meta will also test affiliates like Amazon (U.S.) and Shopee (Asia) on Instagram. Partners will select which products to feature and set commission rates for sales generated through creators' accounts. Additionally, Instagram Reels creators will gain access to product catalogs from businesses in 22 countries, assisting them in finding products to highlight in their videos.