In the latest convergence of artificial intelligence and payments, OpenAI will integrate a payments checkout system into ChatGPT.
Earlier this year, ChatGPT and Shopify partnered to upgrade the shopping feature within the AI platform. The collaboration enabled users who search for a product on ChatGPT to see the top results with prices, reviews, and links to relevant sites. However, to buy the product, users were still directed to the merchant’s platform.
According to Reuters, consumers will soon be able to complete their purchases directly on ChatGPT. Open AI is working with Shopify and other brands to develop the system and negotiate rates, as merchants fulfilling orders through ChatGPT would pay a commission to OpenAI.
Growing Payments Integrations
This integration reflects a growing trend of AI chatbots and agents being empowered to perform transactions. Perplexity recently announced that its Perplexity Pro subscribers would be able to make payments directly within its AI interface.
This functionality is enabled by PayPal, with both PayPal and Venmo payment methods supported. The goal is to give Perplexity users the ability to make one-click payments once they’ve selected their preferred product through the AI platform.
The Rush Toward Agentic Commerce
Taking this model a step further, both Visa and Mastercard have rolled out agentic commerce platforms designed to make AI agents into full-scale shopping assistants. Mastercard’s Agent Pay and Visa’s Intelligent Commerce platforms are built to handle every aspect of a transaction—including payment—with little customer interaction.
However, giving AI this level of control has raised concerns, particularly around the technology’s potential for inaccuracies and hallucinations. These risks are somewhat mitigated in the Perplexity and ChatGPT models, where the final payment decision still rests with the user.
Nonetheless, privacy and security concerns remain across all these scenarios, as bad actors could exploit these still-nascent AI models in various ways. Still, for all the valid concerns, the rush toward agentic commerce doesn’t appear likely to lose momentum.
“Skepticism is warranted, but this is happening,” James Wester, Co-Head of Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research told PaymentsJournal. “If we are saying, ‘I can’t imagine why somebody would do something,’ that shows the limits of our imagination, not the limits of where this is going to go.”
“Approaching this with an open mind and understanding that there is going to be an entire industry of developers, systems integrators, and folks that are going to be aimed at this (is important),” he said. “It’s understanding that this is bigger and important, and we need to understand that in the context of our entire industry, as opposed to just saying this seems like a lot of hype.”
