OpenAI launches ChatGPT Wallet, with AI agents able to make purchases on behalf of users, and every payment requires user confirmation.

Beating AI Insight News Brief: OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Wallet, enabling its "dots" AI agents to shop on users’ behalf with their authorization. The feature is initially available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers aged 18 and above in the U.S. OpenAI rolled out the feature in partnership with American Express, Mastercard, and Visa, noting that cardholders will retain their existing credit card rewards and purchase protections. Eligible users only need to input their card details once to let the agents search for products, though every payment requires the user’s confirmation via security verification. OpenAI stated that the agents will not access users’ actual card information; instead, payment networks will issue unique transaction-specific payment tokens, each containing a one-time card number, security code, and expiration date. The company added that ChatGPT Wallet will not charge transaction fees during its initial launch phase, with the current priority on building partnerships with merchants and payment networks. This marks OpenAI’s next step in extending the shopping process to payment, following its revamp of product search and price comparison functions in March this year. As of the end of the third quarter, ChatGPT boasts over 1.2 billion weekly active users and nearly 100 million paid subscribers. Merchants remain divided on AI agent-based shopping assistance: United Airlines will block AI agents from accessing its booking system, while Amazon does not allow agents to place orders on its platform. Alongside the announcement, OpenAI released merchant-facing tools and guidelines to help businesses check if their websites are inadvertently blocking its AI agents.