OpenAI has launched a direct purchasing feature within ChatGPT, enabling the chatbot’s 700 million weekly users to buy products through conversation. The Instant Checkout system, developed in partnership with Stripe, represents the most significant move yet to transform AI assistants into commerce platforms while introducing a new open standard for agentic payments.
Seamless Shopping Through Conversation
ChatGPT users in the United States can now purchase items directly within their conversations using a new “Buy” button. When users ask shopping questions like “best running shoes under $100,” ChatGPT returns relevant products from across the web, ranked by relevance rather than sponsorship. The feature works across free, Plus, and Pro subscription tiers for logged-in users.
OpenAI’s announcement emphasizes that the process maintains user control at every step. “Users explicitly confirm each step before any action is taken,” the company stated. Payment processing uses cards already on file or other express options, while merchants handle fulfillment through their existing systems. The initial rollout includes Etsy sellers, with over a million Shopify merchants including Glossier, SKIMS, and Spanx coming soon.
For consumers, the system eliminates the friction of switching between discovery and purchase. “This marks the next step in agentic commerce, where ChatGPT not only helps users find what to buy but also enables them to buy it,” OpenAI explained. The company plans to expand beyond single-item purchases to multi-item carts and additional regions in future updates.
The Agentic Commerce Protocol Standard
Powering Instant Checkout is the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), an open standard co-developed by OpenAI and Stripe to define how AI agents and businesses interact during transactions. The protocol enables merchants to participate without overhauling their existing payment systems, maintaining their role throughout the entire purchase journey including fulfillment, returns, and customer support.
According to Stripe’s technical documentation, merchants already using Stripe can enable agentic payments with minimal coding—potentially as little as one line. Those using other processors can integrate through Stripe’s Shared Payment Token API or adopt ACP’s Delegated Payments specification without switching providers. This approach contrasts with competing standards by prioritizing merchant control and existing infrastructure.
Security remains a central focus, with payment tokens encrypted and authorized only for specific merchants and amounts. “Only the minimum data necessary to complete a transaction is shared with merchants,” OpenAI assured. The protocol’s design reflects input from multiple merchants and aims to work across platforms, processors, and business models.
Competing Standards Emerge in AI Payments
OpenAI’s ACP enters a rapidly developing landscape for AI payment protocols. Earlier this month, Google announced its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) developed with over 60 partners including American Express, Mastercard, PayPal, and Salesforce. Both protocols aim to standardize how AI agents securely complete purchases, but they approach the challenge differently.
While ACP emphasizes merchant control using existing processors, AP2 focuses on creating a shared rulebook across the broader digital payments ecosystem. Google’s protocol introduces “Mandates”—cryptographically signed digital contracts that serve as verifiable proof of user instructions. These provide an auditable trail connecting user requests to final transactions, supporting both real-time purchases and delegated transactions that may occur later without user presence.
The key difference lies in deployment timing. ACP is immediately live in ChatGPT through Etsy and soon Shopify merchants, making it the first agentic payment protocol to reach consumers at scale. AP2, despite broader institutional backing, has yet to appear in consumer-facing products. This gives OpenAI and Stripe a significant first-mover advantage in establishing the de facto standard for AI commerce.
Industry Impact and Future Outlook
Partners highlighted the strategic importance of this integration in statements provided to VentureBeat. Will Gaybrick, Stripe’s President of Technology and Business, stated that “Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI and is proud to power Instant Checkout and co-develop ACP.” The partnership represents Stripe’s most significant move into AI-driven commerce to date.
Etsy’s Chief Product and Technology Officer Rafe Colburn noted that “ChatGPT helps Etsy reach buyers even when they are not actively visiting Etsy’s platform.” Similarly, Shopify’s VP of Product Vanessa Lee emphasized that “by bringing Shopify merchants into ChatGPT, both indie brands and established names can reach high-intent shoppers in new contexts.”
According to McKinsey research, generative AI could add $2.6 to $4.4 trillion annually to the global economy, with marketing and sales among the most affected functions. OpenAI’s commerce initiative positions ChatGPT to capture value from this transformation by becoming a primary interface between consumers and businesses.
The open-sourcing of ACP suggests OpenAI aims for broader industry adoption beyond its immediate partners. As AI assistants become increasingly integrated into daily life, establishing the underlying payment infrastructure could prove as strategically important as the conversational interfaces themselves. With 700 million weekly users already accustomed to turning to ChatGPT for recommendations, the platform has unprecedented scale to reshape how commerce begins.