There's almost no place to buy anything online these days but fortunately, ChatGPT is about to change all that. The AI-powered chatbot is introducing limited online commerce, so far offering only single purchases from a few sellers but, obviously, planning to bury the likes of Amazon and Walmart one of these days.
We read about it in the paper this morning and thought we should check with ChatGPT to be sure we had it right. "Is ChatGPT really getting into online commerce?" we asked. Here's the reply:
"Yes — that is true (at least in part). OpenAI has recently introduced a feature called Instant Checkout that lets U.S.-based ChatGPT users purchase items directly through the chat interface, from U.S. Etsy sellers and — soon — some Shopify merchants. (Wall Street Journal)
Here are the details and caveats:
✅ What is true now
Users in the U.S. can buy single items from certain merchants (Etsy, etc.) without leaving ChatGPT. (Wall Street Journal)
Payments are processed via Stripe. (Wall Street Journal)
Merchants pay a small fee to OpenAI; users are not charged extra just for using the checkout feature. (Reuters)
This is an expansion of ChatGPT’s role from a conversational assistant into an e-commerce platform. (AP News)
⚠️ What is not (yet) true / current limitations
For now, only single-item purchases are supported. You cannot check out a full shopping cart with multiple items in one transaction within ChatGPT. (Reuters)
It doesn’t (yet) cover all merchants. Big names like Amazon, Walmart, and many others are not part of this system (at least initially). (Reuters)
The rollout is geographically limited (U.S. merchants, U.S. buyers) at this stage. (Wall Street Journal)
It’s new and evolving. OpenAI is likely to expand merchant participation, support multi-item carts, and more features over time. (Reuters)
That pretty well sums it up. We don't see the need to add more.