OpenAI rolls out shopping research tool on ChatGPT in time for Black Friday

OpenAI is rolling out a ‘shopping research’ tool on ChatGPT to help users find products through a more guided process in time for the holiday season.

The tool searches the internet and produces a personalised buyer’s guide to help people decide what to purchase.

Shopping research works through conversation. Users describe what they want and can refine results by marking items as “Not interested” or “More like this”, with the agent adjusting suggestions in real time.

The new feature comes as AI companies are betting that e-commerce will be a major application of AI.

Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity have also introduced AI features to help users search for products or even complete orders with so-called AI agents.

OpenAI said the tool performs well for specification-heavy products, including electronics, cosmetics, home appliances, and sports gear.

“When you want depth - comparisons, constraints, tradeoffs - shopping research takes a few minutes to give you a more detailed, well-researched answer,” the company wrote in a press release

But users who are looking for simple answers, such as a price check, can use ChatGPT for a regular response.

When users want in-depth comparisons, constraints and tradeoffs, OpenAI says the shopping research process “takes a few minutes” and produces a structured buyer’s guide.

This includes product suggestions, comparisons and information gathered from retailers.

“It’s a clear summary that normally would take a lot of comparing, reading, and checking on your own,” the company said.

OpenAI said the system reads trusted sites, cites reliable sources and pulls information from across the web to “avoid low-quality or spammy sites”.

It also said results are organic and conversations are not shared with retailers.

OpenAI admits the agent may still make mistakes, including errors about pricing and availability.

Available on mobile and web for logged-in users, the company said the new feature will be available to all logged-in users with nearly unlimited usage through the holidays.