AI Shopping Moves Beyond Search
OpenAI announced Tuesday that U.S. users can now complete purchases directly within ChatGPT using a new Instant Checkout feature powered by Stripe. The move marks a major step in monetizing the platform’s 700 million weekly users and poses a potential challenge to Google’s dominance in search-driven advertising.
The feature launches with Etsy sellers and will expand soon to more than one million Shopify merchants, including well-known brands like Glossier, Skims, Spanx, and Vuori. Instead of redirecting users to merchant websites, ChatGPT will allow shoppers to select an item, click “Buy,” and confirm payment and shipping details without leaving the chat.
The Agentic Commerce Protocol
The checkout system relies on the Agentic Commerce Protocol, a payment standard co-developed with Stripe. OpenAI is open-sourcing the protocol so any retailer can integrate shopping features into ChatGPT or other AI platforms. The protocol creates encrypted tokens for payment details, enhancing security and simplifying integration, particularly for existing Stripe clients.
The protocol also supports Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), which allows AI models to connect directly to retailers’ backends, enabling more complex e-commerce interactions. OpenAI said it will take a small merchant fee on each transaction, creating a new revenue stream as the company continues to spend billions annually on AI development.
How It Works
ChatGPT’s shopping recommendations remain organic and unsponsored, with results ranked on relevance. Merchants are surfaced based on factors such as product availability, pricing, quality, and whether Instant Checkout is enabled. Users can pay with the same card linked to their ChatGPT subscription or store alternate payment methods.
OpenAI emphasized that users remain in control: each step of the checkout requires confirmation. However, the company acknowledged that future iterations could allow AI to act more “agentically,” making purchases automatically based on user preferences.
Implications for E-Commerce
The streamlined in-chat shopping experience could disrupt e-commerce and digital advertising. By keeping transactions within the chatbot, OpenAI reduces the need for users to visit retailers’ websites, directly threatening Google’s referral-based ad model. Whether Google can adapt with its Gemini chatbot or AI-powered search remains an open question, especially regarding how it might monetize these interactions.
For now, OpenAI’s Instant Checkout positions ChatGPT not just as a conversational tool, but as a transactional platform that could reshape how consumers shop online.
