ChatGPT has launched Instant Checkout, a feature enabling users to purchase products directly within its chat interface, leveraging the Agentic Commerce Protocol co-developed with Stripe.
The initial rollout of Instant Checkout is available to U.S.-based ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Free users, allowing purchases from U.S. Etsy sellers, with plans to expand to over one million Shopify merchants, including brands like Glossier, SKIMS, Spanx, and Vuori. The feature currently supports single-item purchases, with future updates expected to add multi-item carts and broader merchant and regional availability.
The Agentic Commerce Protocol, the technology behind Instant Checkout, is being open-sourced as an open standard designed to facilitate collaboration between AI agents, people, and businesses on purchases. Co-developed with Stripe and merchant partners, the protocol aims to be secure and easy to adopt, evolving ChatGPT from a discovery tool to one that also facilitates buying.
The user experience begins when a person asks a shopping-related question, and ChatGPT displays relevant products from across the web. If a product supports Instant Checkout, a “Buy” button appears, allowing users to complete the purchase without leaving the chat. Existing subscribers can use their card on file, while other card and express payment options are also available.
For merchants, ChatGPT acts as a user’s AI agent, securely passing information to the seller, while merchants handle backend processes like orders, payments, and fulfillment using their existing systems. This ensures merchants retain control of the customer relationship. A small fee is charged to merchants on completed purchases, with the service being free for users and not affecting product prices or rankings.
The Agentic Commerce Protocol was designed to work across different platforms, payment processors, and business types, allowing for quick integration without requiring merchants to change their backend systems. It ensures merchants remain the merchant of record, controlling fulfillment, returns, support, and customer communication.
When an order is placed, ChatGPT sends necessary details to the merchant’s backend via the protocol, and the merchant can accept or decline the order and process payment and fulfillment as usual. Businesses using Stripe for payments can enable the feature with minimal code, while merchants on other payment processors can participate using Stripe’s Shared Payment Token API or by adopting the Delegated Payments Spec within the protocol.
The system incorporates specific trust and security principles, including explicit user confirmation at each step, secured payments with encrypted tokens, and minimized data sharing with only the necessary information being shared with the merchant, and only with user consent.
Will Gaybrick, President of Technology and Business at Stripe, commented, “Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI. That means re-architect today’s commerce systems and creating new AI-powered experiences for billions of people. We’re proud to power Instant Checkout in ChatGPT and co-develop the Agentic Commerce Protocol to help businesses and AI platforms build the future of commerce.”
The launch of Instant Checkout is presented as an initial step in a new phase of commerce, with the Agentic Commerce Protocol positioned as a foundational technology for a system where AI serves as a primary interface for product discovery, decision-making, and purchasing, connecting consumers and businesses.
