Instacart Launches AI Agent Clementine to Turn Chats Into Grocery Carts

Instacart has introduced an AI-powered grocery shopping assistant named Clementine, capable of converting conversations, grocery lists, or recipes into ready-to-shop carts, according to a press release from the company on September 9. Available to most U.S. and Canadian customers via the Instacart app and website, Clementine can create a cart based on messages like "I need a week of budget-friendly kid lunches," "high-protein easy dinners for two," "everything for a football watch party for 20 people" or "order my usuals."

Leveraging Instacart's historical order data, product catalog, and daily inventory, the AI can create personalized recipes, consider customer preferences, highlight relevant deals, and generate shopping lists based on past purchase history. Instacart CEO Chris Rogers highlighted that the company has spent nearly 15 years understanding family shopping habits, with Clementine putting that knowledge to use.

Additionally, Instacart unveiled Cart Assistant, a white-label enterprise AI shopping assistant for grocers, built on the same technology as Clementine. Currently live with Cart Assistant are Food Bazaar, Heritage Grocers Group, and Woodman's, with Aldi U.S., Harmons, The Save Mart Companies, and Stew Leonard's set to follow. During a May earnings call, Instacart revealed that Cart Assistant was accessible to around 25% of U.S. customers, noting that early users used the AI-powered conversational shopping experience for meal planning, recipe discovery, product research, and faster basket assembly.

PYMNTS Intelligence report "Global Digital Shopping Index: The AI-Powered Shopper Has Arrived" found that 64% of shoppers anticipate engaging with AI agents at least occasionally within the next two years, while 30% expect to do so frequently or almost always.