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How do you solve a problem like IKEA?

This series of screenshots shows you how I use AI as part of my shopping process. They are here to illustrate my newsletter on shopping with AI, so they’ll make a lot more sense if you read the newsletter before diving in.

To get the newsletter, sign up at

https://alexandrasamuel.com/newsletter⁠

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The screenshots here cover six ways I use AI in the shopping process:

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Picturing the challenge⁠

— Visualizing what I need

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Getting my ingredients as a table⁠

— Converting my requirements or shopping list to a table of considerations or ingredients

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Turning my online shopping cart into an in-store shopping list⁠

— Rambling into my phone and getting a coherent list in return

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Adding items to my future wishlist⁠

— Using the AI to take note of a potential purchase for future reference

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Identifying products⁠

— Using AI to identify a product in store (this example didn’t work; sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t)

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Checking out⁠

— Leaving the store with as little unplanned purchasing as possible

Note: Some of these screenshots were recreated so that they would be a shorter read, but all the text comes from real AI sessions.

Alexandra Samuel

May 27, 2025

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