Core Insights - Perplexity AI is launching a free agentic shopping product for U.S. users next week to capitalize on increased consumer spending during the holiday season [1] - The new product aims to provide a streamlined shopping experience, allowing users to conduct their own research while benefiting from personalized results based on previous searches [2] Company Developments - Perplexity AI has partnered with PayPal, enabling users to purchase items from over 5,000 merchants directly through its search engine [2] - The company previously introduced a paid shopping feature called "Buy With Pro" for subscribers, which is now being enhanced with the free product [2] Competitive Landscape - Perplexity AI's competitor, OpenAI, has launched a similar e-commerce feature called Instant Checkout, allowing users to make purchases without leaving the chatbot interface [3] - OpenAI has indicated that it will charge a fee for transactions made through its platform, contrasting with Perplexity's approach of not disclosing potential revenue from transactions [3]