OpenAI on Monday unveiled its clearest move yet into e-commerce, announcing plans to facilitate direct purchases of goods from U.S.-based Etsy sellers on its popular ChatGPT AI chatbot. Etsy stock jumped following the news.
ChatGPT's new Instant Checkout feature will support single-item purchases from Etsy sellers with plans to add more than one million Shopify merchants. Shopify stock also jumped following the announcement.
OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, detailed its plans for the long-anticipated shopping integration in a blog post.
"When someone asks a shopping question — 'best running shoes under $100' or 'gifts for a ceramics lover' — ChatGPT shows the most relevant products from across the web," the post said. "Product results are organic and unsponsored, ranked purely on relevance to the user. If a product supports Instant Checkout, users can tap "Buy," confirm their order, shipping, and payment details, and complete the purchase without ever leaving the chat."
Merchants will pay a "small fee" to OpenAI on completed purchases, the post added.
OpenAI developed the technology in collaboration with the payments startup Stripe. It is publishing the technology behind the tool — called the Agentic Commerce Protocol — to other developers. The company hopes other merchants will build integrations into ChatGPT.
Google parent company Alphabet launched its own protocol earlier this month with PayPal for AI-agent-powered online transactions. Google's Gemini competes against ChatGPT.
Etsy Stock, Shopify Stock Jump
Esty stock jumped 14% to 73.06 in recent trading on the stock market today. Shopify stock was up more than 5% at 147.63.
But the move has implications beyond the two earliest partners for ChatGPT. ChatGPT's popularity has helped it grow as a tool for shoppers to get product recommendations and gift ideas. The shift toward generative AI for that purpose could challenge e-commerce and online advertising businesses, particularly for advertising tied to online search and product marketplaces.
"We see this as an important milestone in changing the commercial structure of the Internet away from human targeted websites found through search, into chat-discoverable websites," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria wrote to clients Monday in a note titled "Flipping The Internet Upside Down."
Google stock was down 0.5% at 245.47 in recent trades.
Amazon is slightly off highs from earlier this afternoon. Shares are ahead 0.5% at 221.12 in recent trades.
