Google's Universal Cart Can Help You Avoid PC Building Missteps

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

A new Google service promises to help you shop online with “superpowers” by harnessing an AI agent to help you hunt deals and flag problems, like compatibility issues between PC parts.

At Google I/O, the company introduced “Universal Cart,” an intelligent shopping cart that can hunt down any online product you’re interested in buying. "The moment you add a product to your cart, it gets to work in the background—finding deals and price drops, giving you insights on price history and alerting you when an item is back in stock,” Google said in a blog post.

In an I/O demo, Google showed how Universal Cart can apply to PC desktop building, making it a helpful tool for novice consumers with little experience with parts compatibility, such as ensuring a CPU uses the correct motherboard that supports the right socket.

Google says that Universal Cart can step in, scanning for the parts you want across retailers, and then flagging any incompatibilities while suggesting alternatives. In the demo, the company showed the function flagging a problem with a consumer trying to buy an Intel motherboard for an AMD Ryzen chip. “The CPU and motherboard in your cart are not compatible. The Ryzen 7 CPU requires a motherboard with an AM5 socket.”

Universal Cart leverages Google’s Gemini AI models. The function was one of several ways the company envisions using AI as a helpful assistant that can work in the background.

The other selling point with Universal Cart is how it can understand your “payment method perks, loyalty information, and merchant offers so it can help you choose" the best one during the checkout process. Universal Cart is also built on Google Wallet, which can quickly plug in your credit card and payment information across third-party retailers.

Still, we wonder if Universal Cart had guardrails to prevent possible errors. In the meantime, the company plans on rolling out Universal Cart first in Google Search and the Gemini app in the US this summer. It’ll also expand to YouTube and Gmail.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
Xbox 360 FTW
The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

Read the latest from Michael Kan

Read full bio