OpenAI has decided to reverse its plans regarding Instant Checkout, the feature that was intended to transform its wildly popular ChatGPT into a platform where users could shop online without leaving the conversation. After months of testing, the team led by Sam Altman has corrected its strategy. Nevertheless, it will continue to work on functionalities related to agentic purchasing through the development of the ACP protocol, created in partnership with entities such as Stripe and PayPal.
In this way, ChatGPT will remain focused on being a site for discovery, generating income related to eCommerce through the commissions it collects for directing valuable traffic to the websites and applications of merchants.
Back in September, we reported on the launch of Instant Checkout, a new feature with which OpenAI sought to take a significant step in its orientation toward the general public, transitioning from a generative AI assistant to becoming a comprehensive environment from which users would not have to leave—not even to complete their online purchases. According to the company’s statement, ChatGPT “would act as a user’s artificial intelligence agent, securely transmitting information between the user and the merchant, much like a digital personal shopper would.”
This was an ambitious and risk-laden move, which in this initial phase would have included partners such as Etsy and Shopify, and would have been available exclusively in the United States, with the aim of expanding to additional markets in the future. As we explained at the time:
“For example, imagine you ask ChatGPT to find ‘yellow raincoats for under $30.’ Previously, the AI was limited to conducting a search online and providing you with a product selection. Now, it would also offer you the option to purchase them via the platform if they supported Instant Checkout. To do so, you would simply need to click the ‘Buy’ option, confirm the order, shipping, and payment details, all within the same chat.
For payment, users could employ a card already registered in ChatGPT, if available, or another card or express payment method. This service is entirely free for the user, meaning that it does not impact the purchase price. However, the merchant is required to pay a small commission for completed purchases. In addition, the merchant would handle order management, payments, and order fulfillment through their own systems.”
OpenAI has made the decision to set aside the Instant Checkout project primarily because it has realized that the initiative was going to be significantly more complex than originally planned (and therefore would not be profitable)—at least, not at this moment and not as it was conceived. The company’s new vision is that the buyer’s journey should begin in ChatGPT, via various layers of search, discovery, and comparison, but should be completed within the merchants’ applications.
This is what is suggested in the report by the North American outlet The Information, which was the first to release this news. According to their information, over recent months OpenAI has faced more challenges than anticipated in deploying this technology. As a spokesperson for the company stated: “We are evolving our approach to commerce in ChatGPT in order to better connect merchants and users wherever they may be. Instant Checkout will transition to merchants’ applications, where purchases take place more seamlessly. We are grateful to our partners for learning alongside us and we look forward to sharing more as we continue to advance in this area.”
According to sources consulted, OpenAI employees found that, while users were researching and searching for products using ChatGPT, they were not making use of the chatbot to complete purchases. In the tests conducted during these months, OpenAI confirmed that users continue to use ChatGPT for its original purposes—for example, to look up information about a destination, inquire about which shampoo is best for their hair, or determine which television model best suits their needs—but when it comes time to finalize the purchase, they prefer the familiar environment of an eCommerce platform.
Furthermore, Altman’s team was encountering numerous technical challenges that were hindering their plans. Among these were seemingly obvious issues such as ensuring that the information on prices and inventory from merchants remained perfectly standardized and updated in real time: thousands upon thousands of product listings from (potentially) thousands of merchants, which would have been difficult to integrate technically into a tool as complex as ChatGPT.
The Information also emphasizes that payment companies would need to improve their protocols in order to prevent fraudulent or erroneous transactions initiated by AI, and, moreover, OpenAI still had not identified a suitable way to collect and remit state sales taxes on completed transactions.
Additionally, if one wishes to speculate, it is worth noting that this reversal comes barely a week after Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI.
Amazon—the same company that had previously blocked ChatGPT from accessing its data and stated that it would only collaborate “if the conditions were attractive.” Incidentally, Amazon is developing its own AI-assisted online shopping tool, Rufus.
From the outset, one of the verticals that seemed inherently suited for this Instant Checkout feature was tourism. It appears relatively straightforward to envision someone planning and completing the hotel and flight reservation process directly within the same ChatGPT conversation in which they inquired about potential destinations, attractions to visit, and culinary specialties.
Following the news of OpenAI’s reversal, the stock prices of some of the giants in online tourism, such as Expedia and Booking, began to climb significantly, with increases of around 10%. This is easily understood if one considers that, as OpenAI steps back, the market perceives that these companies retain control over their domain and that artificial intelligence will serve as a tool to send them customers, rather than as a competitor that undermines them by allowing users to book trips directly within the chat interface.
Image: OpenAI
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