What: PayPal and OpenAI are enabling direct shopping and payments within ChatGPT using the Agentic Commerce Protocol and Instant Checkout.

Why it is important: This integration accelerates the shift toward AI-mediated retail, confirming the growing role of conversational platforms in commerce.

PayPal’s partnership with OpenAI marks a significant step in the evolution of retail by allowing users to shop and pay directly within ChatGPT. Leveraging the Agentic Commerce Protocol and OpenAI’s Instant Checkout, this integration enables seamless product discovery, order confirmation, and payment without leaving the conversational interface. PayPal will provide buyer and seller protection, dispute resolution, and support for card payments, while merchants benefit from automatic catalog integration and backend payment management. Starting in 2026, products from PayPal merchants in categories such as apparel, beauty, and electronics will become discoverable in ChatGPT, eliminating the need for additional integrations. This move not only streamlines the consumer journey but also lowers operational barriers for retailers, positioning AI-driven platforms as central to future commerce. The initiative reflects the broader industry trend of embedding payments and commerce within AI applications, as payment providers and tech companies compete to define the next era of retail. 

IADS Notes: The partnership between PayPal and OpenAI to enable direct shopping and payments within ChatGPT exemplifies the rapid transformation underway in retail, as AI-driven conversational platforms become central to the shopping journey. Industry analysis from September and October 2025 highlights how the integration of instant checkout features in ChatGPT is shifting power from traditional retailers to AI agents, with algorithms now mediating product discovery, purchase, and brand visibility (Forbes, September 2025; Modern Retail, August 2025; Inside Retail, September 2025). PayPal’s adoption of the Agentic Commerce Protocol and the launch of its agentic commerce suite build on this momentum, offering merchants seamless catalog integration and payment solutions without the need for complex backend work (Forbes, September 2025; Blog du Moderateur, May 2025). This approach addresses longstanding conversion gaps in AI-driven retail and aligns with broader trends, as seen in PayPal’s earlier partnership with Perplexity and similar moves by Mastercard and Visa to establish secure, transparent frameworks for AI-enabled transactions (Press Releases, May 2025). The convergence of major payment providers and AI platforms is not only democratizing advanced commerce technologies for merchants of all sizes but also intensifying competition among tech giants, compelling retailers to recalibrate their digital strategies for a machine-mediated environment (WWD, September 2025; BCG, September 2025).

PayPal partners with OpenAI to let users pay for their shopping within ChatGPT