AI stylists range significantly in capability. At the basic end, they answer product questions and surface items matching a keyword query. At the sophisticated end, they take a shopper's occasion brief, reason over the brand's catalog, assemble a complete outfit, show it via virtual try-on, and drive the shopper to checkout — doing everything a skilled in-store sales associate would do. The distinction that matters for fashion brands is whether the assistant surfaces products or makes decisions. Product surfacing is what a search bar does: match a query to a catalog. Decision-making is what a human stylist does: understand the occasion, the person, and what the catalog contains, then present a complete answer. AI stylists that operate at the decision-making level consistently outperform product-surfacing tools on conversion and AOV. Shoppers who receive a complete, personalized outfit recommendation convert at 3-4x the rate of shoppers who browse unassisted.