OpenAI Turns ChatGPT Into a Shopping Assistant With New Commerce Tools

OpenAI has started rolling out new shopping features for ChatGPT, transforming the chatbot into a tool that helps users find, compare, and buy products more easily. Announced Monday, the updates include improved product search results, visual product details, pricing, reviews, and direct purchase links. These features are being made available to Plus, Pro, Free, and even logged-out users, with the rollout expected to complete over the next few days. OpenAI emphasized that the product listings shown are chosen independently and are not paid advertisements. The company also shared that it recently enhanced ChatGPT’s search capabilities. With over one billion web searches conducted through ChatGPT in the past week alone, search has become one of the platform’s fastest-growing features. Among the new updates, users can now send WhatsApp messages to ChatGPT to get real-time answers, including live sports scores. Additionally, ChatGPT will now offer multiple citations with each response to help users verify information and dive deeper into topics. Trending searches and autocomplete suggestions have also been introduced to speed up the search process. The expansion of ChatGPT’s shopping capabilities builds on a broader trend of generative AI tools becoming more influential in online commerce. During last year’s holiday season, generative AI helped shoppers find products and deals faster, leading to noticeable increases in retailer traffic from AI-driven searches. This shift marks a growing reliance on AI over traditional search engines for online shopping. OpenAI’s move follows similar developments by other tech players. Google, for instance, introduced immersive AI shopping experiences for fashion and beauty products in March, while Perplexity launched its AI shopping assistant, Buy With Pro, late last year, allowing users to research and purchase items more efficiently. By adding commerce features to ChatGPT, OpenAI aims to streamline the shopping experience, further expanding the chatbot’s role beyond conversation into a practical tool for daily tasks.