Openai held its annual Dev Day on Monday. There, the company rolled out plans to build the app on ChatGpt. The demo is impressive, showing how programs like Spotify and Figma can be called and discovered without leaving the ChatGPT window. With much of the tech world barreling towards AI integration, Openai’s demo was the best picture of what an AI-first internet could look like in practice. There is an interface where ChatGPT queries information, executes commands directly, etc.
If you have looked closely, you may have noticed that this system has a lot of space to change money. Last week, the company launched Instant Checkout, an agent shopping system that acts as a payment infrastructure for one-time purchases at stores selling Shopify, Etsy, or Stripe. The app now provides the front-end infrastructure and allows service providers to incorporate their own interfaces into ChatGPT.
In short, Openai is now putting all its pieces in place for AI-driven commerce, establishing ChatGpt as the place for customers to buy and sell. It’s a big new business line for the company and one that will have a huge impact on the high-tech industry. In this world, Openai not only competes with Google and humanity, but also with Amazon and Wal-Mart.
You can see how far the vision reaches by looking at Openai’s pending app partners in the launch announcement. ChatGpt can call a cab through Uber, book a trip with Expedia, call a plumber or locksmith through Thumbtack, order groceries from Instacart, prepared food from Doordash, or big-ticket items from Target. Without too much work, CHATGPT can become a portal for most of a user’s discretionary spending.
If it works, this is worth more than just a 20-month subscription. The exact terms of the arrangement are still unclear, but like other App Stores, Openai is well positioned to get a cut of the money spent on the platform. ChatGpt also makes product recommendations and utilizes a wealth of data about its users. This further tilts the balance of power between Openai and retailers. On Ben Thompson’s terms, ChatGpt will become a super aggregator, funneling customers to retailers and providing an entry point for an endless amount of commerce. Openai has many potential business lines to pursue, but it’s no exaggeration to say that AI-driven commerce is one of the most lucrative options.
Openai isn’t the only company looking at this prospect. On the same day as ChatGPT’s announcement, Adobe released a report predicting that this year’s holidays will be dominated by AI-assisted shopping. Another report called Agent Commerce called MasterCard as a “new competitive arena” for finance. Google has already launched its own competing protocol for agent commerce called AP2. This has wider range but less momentum than Openai’s version.
The simplest version of AI-driven shopping is using ChatGpt to find products instead of searching. If you’re looking for canvas tennis shoes under $80, ChatGpt is as easy to find as a Google search. But AI systems don’t have to be passive. The AP2 specification includes the provision of agent-initiated purchases if an agent wants to purchase concert tickets as soon as they are available. Of course, there could be an agent on the other side of the transaction, willing to negotiate with the purchasing agent for the best deal and bundle the goods under the right circumstances. If retailers and customers are willing to take the leap, changes can extend far beyond a simple “buy” button.
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The biggest unanswered question is whether the shopping public is actually interested. While AI shopping is clearly attractive to Openai, and companies like Stripe and MasterCard also see many benefits, users have not shown much interest in agent shopping systems beyond simple product search. But then they didn’t have a chance. These systems are not even properly available today. It will be several months before the average user can fully try out the agent shopping system.
A lot will ride on how they react when they finally do.
