OpenAI on Monday announced Instant Checkout, a new feature that allows users to make single-item purchases directly from merchants through its AI chatbot, ChatGPT. This marks a significant step in the company’s push into e-commerce, enabling ChatGPT to move beyond information delivery and into helping users complete transactions in real time.
Instant Checkout initially supports purchases from U.S. Etsy sellers and is available to U.S. ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Free users. OpenAI said the feature will soon expand to more than one million Shopify merchants, including high-profile brands like Skims and Glossier. Shares of Etsy and Shopify responded positively, rising roughly 5% on Monday.
OpenAI will take a fee from transactions processed through ChatGPT, potentially creating a new revenue stream for the company. While the startup is not yet profitable and continues to scale its computing infrastructure, it declined to share details on fee structures, citing confidential agreements with Etsy and Shopify. Instant Checkout, OpenAI emphasized, is free to users and does not affect product prices.
Michelle Fradin, OpenAI’s product lead for ChatGPT commerce, told CNBC that the company’s vision is for ChatGPT to do more than provide information: “It is also helping you get things done in the real world.” By enabling Instant Checkout, OpenAI aims to streamline shopping experiences, letting users complete purchases without leaving the chat interface.
Currently, Instant Checkout supports single-item purchases, but OpenAI plans to introduce multi-item carts and expand regional availability in the near future. The feature is powered by OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol, a framework developed in partnership with fintech company Stripe, which also powers ChatGPT subscriptions. This protocol allows users to complete transactions with merchants directly through ChatGPT, eliminating the need to re-enter payment information for subscribers.
Fradin highlighted that OpenAI initially designed the framework for e-commerce but sees potential applications for other types of payments and transactions. The company plans to open-source the framework to help merchants build integrations more quickly and allow developers to experiment with new use cases.
Instant Checkout also builds on OpenAI’s broader e-commerce efforts. Earlier this year, ChatGPT introduced product recommendations as part of its search experience, surfacing items from across the web and ranking results by relevance rather than partnerships. With the new checkout feature, users browsing products on Etsy, for example, can now purchase directly through ChatGPT instead of navigating to the merchant’s site.
ChatGPT has seen rapid adoption, surpassing 700 million weekly active users in August. Fradin noted that a significant portion of user queries now relate to shopping or commerce, ranging from specific product searches—like finding a pair of black boots—to broader requests, such as planning a birthday party for a dozen children. “What we wanted to do is make it even easier for users to complete their journey in ChatGPT, and for merchants and developers to convert those conversations into checkouts,” she said.
With Instant Checkout, OpenAI is clearly positioning ChatGPT not only as a tool for information and advice but also as a direct conduit for commerce, potentially reshaping the way users shop online and interact with merchants.
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