A New Era for E-Commerce
OpenAI has launched a groundbreaking in-chat shopping system that enables ChatGPT users in the United States to make purchases directly within conversations. This development represents a significant shift in online shopping dynamics, potentially reshaping how consumers discover products and how platforms control the entire purchasing journey from discovery to payment.
Instant Checkout Feature Details
The new “Instant Checkout” feature is available to all logged-in ChatGPT users, including Free, Plus, and Pro subscribers. Currently, the system supports purchases from U.S.-based Etsy sellers, with plans to expand to over one million Shopify merchants including popular brands like Glossary, Skims, Spanx, and Vuori in the near future.
This feature builds upon ChatGPT’s existing shopping capabilities, which previously provided product recommendations, images, reviews, and merchant links. Now, instead of redirecting users to external websites, customers can complete their entire purchase within the chat interface by simply tapping “Buy” and confirming their order, shipping, and payment details through supported methods including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe, or credit cards.
Industry Context and Competitive Landscape
This move places OpenAI in direct competition with established e-commerce giants and follows similar initiatives from other tech companies. Perplexity introduced comparable in-chat shopping features last year, while Microsoft offers merchants in-chat storefront capabilities through its Copilot Merchant Program. As detailed in coverage from industry analysts, this frictionless shopping experience could fundamentally alter consumer behavior by shifting purchases away from traditional search engines and e-commerce platforms toward conversational AI agents.
Power Dynamics in E-Commerce
The introduction of in-chat purchasing capabilities could disrupt the current balance of power in online retail. Google and Amazon have long served as primary gatekeepers for product discovery, but if more transactions occur within AI chatbots, the companies behind these platforms gain significant influence over which products are recommended and what fees are charged.
OpenAI has stated that its product results are “organic and unsponsored, ranked purely on relevance to the user,” and that merchants will pay only a “small fee” for completed purchases. This contrasts with existing models where dominant platforms have been known to favor their own products or charge substantial fees for visibility.
Technical Infrastructure and Open Source Approach
OpenAI is taking an open approach to this technology by open-sourcing its Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), the underlying technology powering Instant Checkout that was developed in partnership with Stripe. This move allows other merchants and developers to integrate agentic checkout capabilities into their own systems.
Stripe’s President of Technology and Business, Will Gaybrick, emphasized that “Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI,” which involves re-architecting current commerce systems and creating new AI-powered experiences for global users.
Privacy and Security Considerations
For users concerned about sharing payment information within ChatGPT, the company clarifies that orders, payments, and fulfillment are handled directly by merchants using their existing systems. ChatGPT serves as an intermediary agent that securely passes information between users and merchants without storing sensitive payment data.
Strategic Implications
The open-sourcing of ACP not only facilitates broader merchant adoption but also positions OpenAI as a potential architect of the AI commerce ecosystem. This strategic move creates tension with Google, which recently launched its own open protocol for AI-initiated purchases called Agent Payments Protocol (AP2).
This development marks a significant step toward AI-powered commerce ecosystems where conversational agents become the primary interface for product discovery, comparison, and purchase completion.
