Shopping online is getting a major upgrade, and ChatGPT is leading the charge. For users in the U.S., ChatGPT can now do more than just help you decide what to buy — it can actually complete your purchase right in the chat. Thanks to a new feature called “Instant Checkout,” people using ChatGPT (whether on the free, Plus, or Pro plan) can now buy products from U.S.-based Etsy sellers directly in their conversation, without ever needing to leave the chat.
And this is just the beginning. OpenAI has announced that over a million Shopify stores, including big brands like Glossier, Skims, and Spanx, will be joining this new shopping experience soon.
Before this, ChatGPT could recommend products based on your needs (like gifts for a friend who loves pottery or stylish office sneakers), and then link you to the websites. But now, it lets you click “Buy” and finalize the transaction within the chat itself. You can pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe, or a credit card — all from the same conversation.
This shift signals something bigger: a potential shake-up in who controls the online shopping world. Traditionally, platforms like Google and Amazon have been the gatekeepers, deciding which products you see and pushing their own listings or preferred partners. But now, if people start shopping directly through AI tools like ChatGPT, that power dynamic could change fast.
To encourage more businesses to get on board, OpenAI is also open-sourcing the technology behind this — called the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) — making it easier for merchants to plug into this new system. Stripe, which powers the payments, sees this as the start of a whole new AI-powered shopping ecosystem.
Of course, some users might worry about privacy. But OpenAI says that your orders and payments are still handled by the actual store — ChatGPT just helps pass the info along securely, like a smart assistant.
As more tech giants jump in (Google has launched its own AI shopping protocol), the future of online shopping could soon be less about browsing websites — and more about just chatting your way to what you need.
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