OpenAI has taken a major leap toward challenging Google Search dominance by rolling out a native shopping experience inside ChatGPT. Announced on Monday, the new feature lets users browse, compare, and buy products directly from the ChatGPT interface — turning the AI assistant into a real-time, ad-free shopping companion.
The upgrade is part of ChatGPT's Search mode, now the app’s fastest-growing feature, racking up over 1 billion searches in just the past week, according to the company.
“We’ve launched several improvements to ChatGPT search, and today we’re starting to roll out a better shopping experience,” OpenAI said in a post on X.
What’s New?
The updated shopping feature offers:
- Improved product listings
- Visual product details
- Pricing, reviews, and direct purchase links
- No ads or sponsored content
OpenAI emphasizes that “product results are chosen independently and are not ads.”
Who Gets It?
The feature is rolling out gradually to:
- ChatGPT Free, Plus, and Pro users
- Even logged-out users, across all available regions
The rollout will complete “in the next few days,” OpenAI says.
Early Test: Room to Improve
Early testing on a free ChatGPT account showed mixed results. Some product suggestions were accurate, linking to Amazon India and niche stores like Heads Up For Tails. Others, however, were buggy — including broken links and incorrect redirections (like a link to a news site instead of a pet product page).
Visual product previews also weren’t consistently showing, likely because the update hasn’t fully reached all accounts yet.
More Than Shopping: OpenAI Expands to WhatsApp
OpenAI also launched Search via WhatsApp. Users can now text 1-800-ChatGPT (+1-800-242-8478) to:
- Get live answers and sports scores
- Explore improved multi-source citations
- Use a new highlight interface to track which sources support which parts of an answer
Also new are trending search suggestions and autocomplete, making it easier and faster to find what you’re looking for inside ChatGPT.
Bigger Battle Ahead?
This shopping rollout comes shortly after OpenAI reportedly expressed interest in buying Google Chrome, should antitrust rulings force a sale. While still speculative, the move reflects OpenAI’s broader ambitions to disrupt not just how people search — but how they navigate and shop the web entirely.
