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Can Artificial-Intelligence 'Ninjas' Find the Best Price on the Web?

by Caleb Johnson on August 7, 2009 at 01:27 PM

Fixed-price shopping is for the birds, especially on the Internet. How do you know if you're really getting the best deal possible? Well, a new Web service hopes to take care of those worries.

Aroxo, a shopping site, will debut a program called 'Negotiating Ninjas' this Fall, BBC News reports. Designed by researchers at Southampton University, the 'Ninjas,' which will be fully operational by Christmas, function as artificial-intelligence 'agents' for shoppers and sellers, negotiating the best prices possible for both. In order to reach a middle ground, a shopper and seller answer a number of questions -- from how much they're willing to pay to how eager they are to sell a product. Then, an 'agent' uses heuristics -- a set of rules used to find the best answer in situations where there's no single 'correct' one -- to make offers until the item is sold or someone leaves the negotiations.

Aroxo says the service is free, but users must pay the site .3-percent of the buyer's original asking price just to contact someone about a sale. So, in a roundabout way, you're still paying for the 'agent.' It'll be interesting to see if folks really do get some great bargains, or if this is more trouble than it's worth. [From: BBC News]

Tags: artificial intelligence, ArtificialIntelligence, bargains, negotiations, online shopping, OnlineShopping, shopping, software, top, web

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