Canada’s biggest tech company is helping ChatGPT fire the starting gun on a new era of online shopping.
What happened: Through a partnership with Shopify, OpenAI is planning to launch a new shopping checkout system in ChatGPT that will let users search for, browse, and buy products without leaving the app. OpenAI will take a cut of every purchase made through the chatbot, while Shopify’s merchants can get more sales.
- The idea is for ChatGPT to become a one-stop virtual shopping assistant. It can recommend products based on your taste and budget, and let you buy them with just a couple of clicks.
- Since ChatGPT doesn't bring in money from traditional ads, commissions could be a major revenue stream for OpenAI, especially from its ~790 million non-paying users.
Why it matters: Chatbots are starting to transform how we shop online. With companies like OpenAI quickly becoming the gatekeepers of internet traffic, decisions around what products we’re exposed to — and often what we buy — are increasingly in the hands of AI models.
- Startups like Profound, Scrunch, and Brandtech Group are now building tools that can predict how likely an AI model is to recommend a company’s product and offer tips on how to get mentioned by chatbots more frequently.
Bottom line: Figuring out how to get these AI chatbots to organically point to a brand or product could very well be the new frontier of the ~US$107 billion SEO industry.—LA