The takeaway: OpenAI rolled out the ability to use third-party apps in ChatGPT just last week, launching with a handful of partners including Spotify, Expedia, and Zillow. The integration has the potential to reshape how the public interacts with AI-based chatbots, and the impact could grow even further following the latest partnership announcement.
Walmart has teamed up with OpenAI and will soon allow customers to shop their store using ChatGPT and its new instant checkout feature. Announced at the end of September, instant checkout is built with Stripe and leverages the agentic commerce protocol to help people make purchases with ChatGPT. Early partners for instant checkout include Etsy and Shopify.
Walmart already uses AI across multiple parts of its business. This past spring, the company announced an AI assistant called Sparky to help shoppers with a variety of tasks in the Walmart app. The ChatGPT integration, however, could have an even bigger impact on how customers shop.
According to the big box retailer, the AI-first shopping experience aims to be proactive rather than reactive – that is, it will learn customers' habits and use that data to plan and predict what a buyer may need next even before they realize it.
Walmart's announcement was light on details. The company did not say when the new shopping experience would go live, if it would launch for everyone all at once or via a staggered rollout, or what regions might have access to it first. Neither Walmart nor OpenAI shared financial terms of the partnership. Presumably, OpenAI would receive a percentage of sales made through ChatGPT which could go a long way in helping the startup become profitable.
As CNBC highlights, consumers are increasingly relying on AI-based tools like ChatGPT for gift ideas and to help find deals. For many, being able to shop and complete a purchase using a chatbot feels like the next logical step in the progression of artificial intelligence as a tool to help make daily life a bit easier.