OpenAI Refashions ChatGPT Into a Personal Shopper with New Shopping Research Tool

OpenAI today revealed a major upgrade for ChatGPT: a new “Shopping Research” feature that guides users through product discovery and builds tailored buyer’s guides. The capability is rolling out to mobile and web users across all plan tiers, including Free, Go, Plus and Pro, with nearly unlimited usage offered through the holiday period.

The system invites users to describe what they need, for example “compare these three mountain bikes under $1,000” or “find a wireless vacuum for a small apartment,” and then asks clarifying questions, scans high quality online sources and produces a curated set of options with trade offs, strengths and weaknesses. In testing, the tool showed improved accuracy compared with standard ChatGPT responses for detailed, multi-constraint queries.

Unlike simple questions such as asking for a single price, Shopping Research is built for comparative, decision oriented queries. It synthesizes data from product specifications, reviews, merchant listings and availability information and organizes results into clear buyer’s guides. The product range most suited to the tool includes electronics, home and garden, beauty, sports and outdoor gear.

Earlier in the year, the company introduced Instant Checkout, a system that enables users to purchase directly within ChatGPT from select merchants using an agent driven protocol. With Shopping Research, OpenAI is shifting from simply answering questions to becoming a proactive shopping assistant. Analysts suggest this move could challenge major players in how online shoppers discover and evaluate products.

On their announcement blog entry, OpenAI hints at a potential in-chat purchase feature for the future:

If you’d like to purchase an item, you can click through to the retailers site to do so. In the future, you’ll be able to purchase directly through ChatGPT for merchants who are part of Instant Checkout⁠ where available.

OpenAI notes that the system, while powerful, has limitations. It may occasionally misreport details such as pricing or product availability, so users should verify key information directly with merchants. ChatGPT now offers Shopping Research on iOS, Android and the web for all logged-in users, and it automatically appears when the system detects a shopping-related query or when users launch it manually through the plus menu. During the introductory period, OpenAI is waiving many usage restrictions across all plans to support high volume holiday shopping.