OpenAI and Instacart have introduced a new grocery shopping feature within ChatGPT, enabling users to conceptualize meals, create shopping lists, and complete purchases directly through the chat interface.
This initiative expands on their established collaboration; over two years prior, Instacart introduced an AI-driven search tool within its app, also powered by ChatGPT, designed to assist shoppers with meal planning queries and dietary considerations.
The connection between OpenAI and Instacart appears to have strengthened further, especially since May when former Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, already an OpenAI board member, took on the role of CEO of Applications at the company.
OpenAI is currently prioritizing “agentic commerce,” which involves employing AI tools to conduct shopping research and execute purchases for users. Its latest developer day highlighted plans to integrate applications directly into ChatGPT. Initially, developers saw previews of ChatGPT integrations with services such as Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Expedia, Figma, Spotify, and Zillow; subsequently, OpenAI has revealed additional collaborations with Target, Intuit, among others.
In preparation for the upcoming holiday shopping period, both OpenAI and Perplexity unveiled in-app functionalities designed to aid users in product selection — for example, requesting ChatGPT to locate the optimal deal on a gaming laptop meeting specific requirements. Adobe forecasts a remarkable 520% increase in AI-assisted online shopping during this holiday season.
Even with ChatGPT’s widespread adoption, OpenAI remains unprofitable and might not achieve profitability for several more years, if at all. The significant computational resources required by its offerings mean that even subscription revenues don’t cover operational costs. Agentic commerce tools could provide OpenAI with an alternative revenue stream, as it plans to collect an undisclosed “small fee” for facilitating merchant sales. However, a substantial volume of ChatGPT-driven purchases would be necessary for these fees to significantly impact OpenAI’s financial deficit.