OpenAI just dropped a shopping research tool that transforms ChatGPT into your personal buying advisor. The feature generates detailed product guides with comparisons, pricing, and retailer info – putting the AI giant on a collision course with Google Shopping and Amazon's recommendation engine right before Black Friday.
OpenAI is making its biggest play yet for your wallet. The company quietly rolled out a "shopping research" tool Monday that turns ChatGPT into something Amazon and Google should be worried about – an AI-powered shopping assistant that actually thinks before it recommends.
The timing couldn't be more strategic. As consumers gear up for holiday spending, OpenAI is positioning itself as the smart middleman between shoppers and retailers. Ask ChatGPT to "find the quietest cordless stick vacuum for a small apartment" and the new tool automatically kicks in, spending several minutes crafting detailed guides that compare top products, highlight key differences, and pull the latest pricing from retailers.
This isn't your typical AI chatbot spitting out generic lists. Users can customize recommendations based on budget, specific features, and who they're shopping for. The system promises organic results pulled from publicly available retail sites – no pay-to-play recommendations skewing the results.
"We're seeing a fundamental shift in how people want to research purchases," according to OpenAI's blog post announcing the feature. The company acknowledges the tool might make mistakes with pricing and availability, but that honesty feels refreshing in an era of algorithmic black boxes.
The move builds directly on OpenAI's September launch of Instant Checkout, which let ChatGPT users buy products from select merchants without leaving the chat interface. Now the company's creating a complete pipeline – research, compare, and purchase – all within ChatGPT. Shopping research users will eventually be able to complete purchases through Instant Checkout, OpenAI confirmed Monday.
This puts OpenAI in direct competition with Google Shopping's AI-powered recommendations and Amazon's increasingly sophisticated product discovery algorithms. While those services optimize for their own ecosystems, OpenAI is betting on neutrality – no inventory to push, no ad revenue to maximize.
