OpenAI’s Shift to Shopping Apps Faces Even More Hurdles

With OpenAI suddenly scaling back on chatbot checkouts, its foray into shopping hinges on convincing retailers to set up shop with dedicated apps within ChatGPT—and getting people to buy stuff there. It faces hurdles on both fronts.

ChatGPT apps have been around for just a few months—available for around 100 consumer firms, including Uber and Instacart—but shoppers may not know they exist or how to access them. Right now, ChatGPT users need to enable the apps and then summon them in a chat, for instance, by typing “@Instacart.” OpenAI has told some commerce firms ChatGPT could proactively suggest apps based on user conversations, but it hasn’t decided on the best approach, a person briefed on the discussions said.