Phia, an AI‑powered shopping plugin launched last spring, was founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni. The extension embeds an affiliate link into user browsers, promising shoppers price comparisons and cashback rewards. Gates, the daughter of Bill Gates, positioned the app as a tool for effortless online shopping.

Investigators found the plugin performed cookie stuffing, attaching its affiliate code to purchases it did not actually drive. The practice generated fake clicks and misattributed sales, awarding commissions to Phia instead of the original merchant or third‑party publishers. The bug surfaced in code released in December 2025.

Ben Edelman, a researcher, released a video showing Phia’s link load invisibly in a second browser tab on iOS after a merchant visit. Bloomberg and Capital One Shopping corroborated the findings, noting that the extension claimed credit for sales that should have gone to other publishers.

Phia acknowledged the issue, citing a bug in its codebase. A spokesperson said the error was identified within 24 hours, with the team working overnight to mitigate and resolve the problem. The incident raises concerns about affiliate fraud and the reliability of AI shopping tools.