OpenAI is putting a pause on its plan to allow users to purchase products directly through ChatGPT, and will instead focus on checkouts that run through specific plugins for the service.

The news was initially reported by The Information, and confirmed by a spokesperson for the company.

Launched in September in the US, the Instant Checkout feature was partnered with Etsy and Shopify, enabling ChatGPT users to complete purchases without leaving the interface. At the time of its launch, OpenAI emphasised the impartiality of its product rankings and suggested that this service could eventually extend to other kinds of payment types.

However, adoption of the technology by vendors has been minimal by the company’s own admission. During an investor conference on 3 March, Shopify president Harvey Finkelstein said only around a dozen merchants on the platform were selling through AI tools, including ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s CoPilot.

The Information also reported – citing a person familiar with the project – that users were researching products through the chatbot, but not purchasing them there.

Users will still be able to purchase items through apps built for ChatGPT, which will be OpenAI’s focus going forward. A spokesperson told The Information that “instant checkout is moving to apps, where purchases can happen more seamlessly. We appreciate our partners for learning with us and look forward to sharing more as we continue building in this area.”

Several large firms have already built apps for purchasing through ChatGPT, including Instacart, Target, Expedia and Booking.com, indicating broader industry sentiment that that this model may find more success than the fully integrated offering.

The pivot may also cost OpenAI a meaningful revenue stream at a precarious time. The company had planned to take a percentage cut of sales made through Instant Checkout, but it is unclear whether this arrangement will carry over to app-based purchases – a significant uncertainty for a company that reportedly needs to generate $200 billion in annual revenue by 2030 to justify its current valuation, while most of its 900 million weekly users are not paying for the service.

Not all companies are retreating from AI-driven purchasing, however. Google Cloud recently announced a partnership with European paytech Nexi Group to develop agentic commerce infrastructure, in which AI agents shop and pay autonomously on behalf of consumers within pre-authorised boundaries. Unlike OpenAI's now-scaled-back approach, the project is built around open-source payment standards and European regulatory requirements.

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