OpenAI launches shopping research feature in ChatGPT

Investing.com -- OpenAI has introduced a new shopping research feature in ChatGPT that helps users find products through conversational AI assistance.

The feature, which began rolling out Monday, is available to logged-in users across Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans on both mobile and web platforms. OpenAI is offering nearly unlimited usage to all plans through the holiday season.

Shopping research transforms product discovery into a conversation by asking clarifying questions to understand user preferences, pulling information from high-quality sources, and presenting options for users to refine results. The feature is designed for deeper decision-making rather than simple shopping queries.

The tool performs particularly well in detail-heavy categories including electronics, beauty, home and garden, kitchen and appliances, and sports and outdoor equipment. It can help users discover new products, find similar items, compare options side by side, choose gifts, and locate deals.

When using the feature, ChatGPT opens a visual interface where users can describe what they’re looking for and answer questions about budget, intended recipient, and preferred features. If memory is enabled, the research can be further personalized based on previous conversations.

The system searches across the internet for current information on price, availability, reviews, specifications, and images. Users can guide the research by marking suggested products as "Not interested" or "More like this."

After several minutes, users receive a personalized buyer’s guide with top products, key differences, tradeoffs, and up-to-date information from reliable retailers. Users can click through to retailer sites to make purchases, with OpenAI planning to add direct purchasing through ChatGPT for merchants participating in Instant Checkout where available.

The feature is powered by a version of GPT-5 mini specifically trained for shopping tasks using reinforcement learning. According to OpenAI’s internal evaluations, shopping research achieves 64% product accuracy compared to 52% for GPT-5-Thinking, 56% for GPT-5-Thinking-mini, and 37% for ChatGPT Search.

OpenAI emphasized that user chats are never shared with retailers, and results are organic based on publicly available retail sites. The company acknowledged that the system might still make mistakes about product details like price and availability.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.