OpenAI Upgrades ChatGPT Search with New Shopping Feature

OpenAI is currently updating ChatGPT's search feature, an internet search tool within ChatGPT designed to enhance users' online shopping experience, as announced by the company on Monday.

When ChatGPT users search for products, the chatbot now provides recommendations showcasing product images and reviews, along with direct links to webpages where users can make purchases. OpenAI stated that users can ask highly specific questions in natural language and receive tailored results. Initially, OpenAI is experimenting with categories including fashion, beauty, home goods, and electronics.

OpenAI launched this feature today in GPT-4o, ChatGPT's default AI model. It's available to ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and free users, as well as global users who are not logged in.

The update to ChatGPT's search function is part of OpenAI's efforts to compete with Google, aiming to create a better and more personalized experience for finding products and information online. Online shopping is one of Google's most crucial businesses, but the advertising market that prioritizes buying positions in Google searches has led to a decline in product quality over the years.

OpenAI claims that its search product is experiencing rapid growth. The company informed TechCrunch that last week, users conducted over a billion web searches within ChatGPT.

OpenAI mentioned that it independently determines ChatGPT's shopping results and emphasized that advertisements are not part of this search upgrade. According to OpenAI, shopping results will be based on structured metadata from third parties, such as prices, product descriptions, and reviews. The company will not receive rebates from purchases made through ChatGPT searches.

Historically, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has opposed placing advertisements in ChatGPT. However, in a recent interview with Ben Thompson from Stratechery, Altman slightly shifted his stance. He expressed willingness to accept "tasteful" advertisements, mentioning that OpenAI could earn affiliate fees from purchases made through ChatGPT without selling priority placements in the results.

Soon, OpenAI plans to integrate its memory function with the shopping feature for Pro and Plus users, meaning ChatGPT will reference users' previous chat history to offer highly personalized product recommendations. The company previously updated ChatGPT to consider memory during extensive web searches. Nevertheless, these memory functions will not be available to users in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

With this update, ChatGPT's search will now display popular searches as users begin typing their queries, similar to Google's autocomplete feature. Additionally, ChatGPT's search functionality has been integrated into WhatsApp, allowing users to send messages to the company's chatbot for up-to-date answers.

OpenAI had previously explored shopping features through its AI "agent" platform Operator, which took several seconds to minutes browsing dozens of webpages to find relevant products for users. The shopping-enabled ChatGPT search offers a faster and more direct experience while still allowing users to search for products using natural language queries.