As artificial intelligence changes how consumers shop on the internet, a wide range of companies have skin in the game, including "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) consumer loan providers such as Affirm Holdings. There could be upside for Affirm stock if Chief Executive Max Levchin is right about how things will play out.
OpenAI on Monday released a new feature that enables ChatGPT users to purchase items directly within the chatbot interface. Merchants will pay OpenAI a small fee on purchases. Alphabet's Google, Perplexity and other search engine players are also expected to enable merchants to sell directly within chatbot conversations.
At the same time, autonomous, goal-driven AI "agents" that complete tasks on their own are expected to play a bigger role in e-commerce. They'll give consumers personalized recommendations that factor in the best pricing, shipping and payment options. The agents will gather insights from product reviews and deal-hunt.
"I think we can expect the arrival of shopping directly from your chatbot, your AI companion will be with you every step of the way, all the way through checkout, as opposed to until you're ready to go to a checkout," Levchin said in an interview.
Will Chatbots Recommend BNPL?
"In a world of agentic shopping, it's the agent that has to understand the best financial choices and we firmly believe Affirm typically winds up being the best choice. So we expect to gain market share."
One question is whether AI agents will recommend buy now, play later plans as a good option for shoppers as opposed to using credit cards. With BNPL options, consumers pay off purchases in monthly installments, either with low interest or none at all.
In Affirm's case, its product mix has been shifting to more BNPL plans with no interest. Instead, Affirm garners revenue from fees paid by merchants.
Levchin expects more transparency in consumer financial products.
"It is definitely the case that if you ask ChatGPT or Gemini today about BNPL and ask about features and differences that you'll pretty quickly get to Affirm being unique," Levchin said. "It does not charge late fees and it does not have compounding interest. There are no gimmicks. That's a strong advantage that we have."
He added: "If there's a future where consumers trust their personal AI assistant to guide them through life's more complex choices I expect it to be a great tailwind."
Affirm competes versus Klarna, Sezzle, Block's Afterpay, PayPal Holdings and many others.
In the BNPL market, Affirm's partners include Amazon.com and Shopify. Amazon is beta testing its "Buy For Me" feature, which is an AI shopping agent that will leave the Amazon website and surf the Internet to find the product for which a Prime customer is looking.
Affirm Stock Performance
Affirm stock has advanced 15% in 2025. But after setting a record close of 92.56 on Sept. 19, shares have tumbled below the 50-day line, as many payments stocks have come under pressure.
AFRM stock sank 4.55% to 73.08 on Tuesday.
Shares rose a fraction early Wednesday.
Technical Ratings
AFRM stock holds an IBD Composite Rating of 94, according to IBD Stock Checkup.
IBD's Composite Rating combines five separate proprietary ratings into one easy-to-use rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
Further, Affirm stock has an Accumulation/Distribution Rating of A-minus. That rating analyzes price and volume changes in a stock over the past 13 weeks of trading. Its current rating indicates more funds are buying than selling.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on X, formerly Twitter, @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
