Using Generative AI in everyday life is genuinely delightful. Anyone with a smartphone (so, essentially all of us) can now access world-class services for free. If you remember the frustrations of Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, or Siri, it’s time to give AI another try. Voice recognition has become remarkably accurate, asking a question is effortless, and the answers you receive are richer, more precise, and better tailored to your needs.

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Yet, as exciting as this is, trying to use ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar services inside a physical store still leaves much to be desired. Here’s why:

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1. Location Awareness

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Most Gen AI apps don’t really know where you are. Instead of using live GPS data, they rely on Wi-Fi signals, which are far less accurate. This means they often fail to answer simple but crucial questions like, “Where can I buy this nearby?”

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2. Product Recognition

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AI apps can analyze pictures fairly well, building on earlier tools like Google Lens or Amazon Lens AI. In theory, you should be able to snap a photo and instantly identify a product with ChatGPT or Copilot. In practice, it often only works in text mode, not conversational mode (did they forget the button?). Claude and Perplexity support this better, and Gemini Live or Grok even allow live video. Still, it’s clear that most Gen AI providers haven’t truly prioritized the in-store shopping experience yet.

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3. Prices

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Price information is starting to appear in AI responses, but it’s rarely reliable. Prices are often outdated, pulled from online listings, and not specific enough to guide an actual purchase.

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4. Availability

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The same issue applies to availability. Apps don’t know what local stores actually carry. Instead, they tend to point you back to e-commerce sites, which isn’t very helpful when you’re already standing in a store aisle.

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5. Checkout

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Finally, there’s the missing piece of “zero-click shopping.” ChatGPT recently introduced shoppable links, but so far, these only redirect to e-commerce websites. OpenAI is expected to integrate agentic shopping in partnership with Shopify and Stripe. That will enable browsing, product selection, cart management, and payment all within ChatGPT’s ecosystem.

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While this is convenient for consumers, it creates tension with brands and with retailers. Brands that invest in direct-to-consumer experiences and retailers who manage customer relationships risk being sidelined. OpenAI will still need brands or retailers for order fulfillment, but traffic to their existing online channels is likely to decline. Importantly, all of this remains focused on online shopping, not the in-store experience.

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How Does Ask Mona Bridge the Gap ?

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This is where Ask Mona comes in, helping brands extend the Gen AI experience into the physical world while addressing today’s limitations.

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Discoverability‍

In-store QR codes, highlighted with colorful comic-style speech bubbles, signal to shoppers: “AI is here and ready to answer your questions.”

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Accessibility‍

Scanning the QR code opens a lightweight web app, no heavy app download required. It automatically identifies the product, lets the shopper use the brand’s preferred Gen AI model (ChatGPT-5, Gemini 2.5, or Claude Sonnet), and speaks in any language using the smartphone’s settings.

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Usefulness

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Ease of use is essential, and Gen AI naturally excels at conversation. Ask Mona takes this further by ensuring that answers are not based on generic internet responses but rather use brand-controlled, curated information. Over time, brands can refine these answers by reviewing reports of unanswered or unsatisfactory interactions, creating a flywheel of continuous improvement.

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This private Gen AI service empowers brands to deliver helpful, trustworthy, and evolving support, directly inside stores.