Santa has his army of elves and now savvy shoppers have customizable AI agents to help them navigate the season's dizzying deluge of holiday deals.

This year, 83% of holiday shoppers planned to use artificial intelligence to help with their purchases, according to a Zeta Global survey, with nearly three-quarters of respondents saying they trust AI recommendations as much as they trust their own friends. Many of those same shoppers used AI agents to spend $3 billion online in the U.S. on Black Friday and $14.2 billion globally, according to

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