OpenAI has updated the ChatGPT search engine to offer an improved shopping experience, multiple sources report. As of April 28, when users search for products, the platform offers up not just information but also product recommendations, images and reviews along with direct links to visit external websites for purchase.
The experience is now available for Pro, Plus and Free ChatGPT users, as well as logged-out users worldwide, and is kicking off with categories including fashion, beauty, home goods and electronics, TechCrunch reports.
Shopping results and recommendations are determined based on online data such as pricing, product descriptions and reviews. Soon OpenAI plans to also integrate its “memory feature,” , which draws on a user’s previous chats to make more personalized recommendations, into shopping results for Pro and Plus members. Importantly, ads are not a part of the experience as they are in other search engines like Google, and OpenAI receives no fee or commission on purchases.
Will ChatGPT Cut into Google’s Shopping Dominance?
This isn’t OpenAI’s first move into the realm of shopping — earlier this year, the company announced plans for a new agentic AI interface called Operator that would perform a variety of web-based tasks, including shopping, on behalf of users. The tool is currently being tested by companies including Ebay, DoorDash, Instacart and Uber.
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These new shopping capabilities in ChatGPT, however, are different and are a direct challenge to tools like Perplexity’s Shop Like a Pro and, most of all, Google, for which shopping-based searches are big business. In fact, users who have tried out the ChatGPT interface said it is very similar to the shopping experience on Google, minus the ads. For its part, Google has steadily been incorporating AI into both its general search engine and the shopping experience on its platform.
