OpenAI is upgrading its ChatGPT search tool to offer users an improved online shopping experience, the company announced on Monday. The update will allow ChatGPT to provide product recommendations, images, and reviews, along with direct links to purchase products.
When users search for products, ChatGPT will now offer a few tailored recommendations based on their queries. OpenAI says users can ask specific questions in natural language and receive customized results. Initially, the company is experimenting with categories such as fashion, beauty, home goods, and electronics.
The update is being rolled out in GPT-4o, the default AI model for ChatGPT, on Monday for ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Free users, as well as for logged-out users globally. OpenAI is competing with Google by creating a more personalized experience for finding products and information online.
According to OpenAI, users made over a billion web searches in ChatGPT last week. The company claims that its search product is growing rapidly and is determining shopping results independently, without ads. The shopping results are based on structured metadata from third parties, including pricing, product descriptions, and reviews.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has previously been against ads in ChatGPT but recently expressed openness to “tasteful” advertising, where the company charges affiliate fees for purchases made through ChatGPT without selling priority placement in search results.
OpenAI plans to integrate its memory feature with shopping for Pro and Plus users soon. This will allow ChatGPT to reference previous chats to make highly personalized product recommendations. However, these memory features won’t be available to users in the EU, the U.K., Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
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Alongside this update, ChatGPT search will now display trending searches as users start typing a question, similar to Google Search’s autocomplete feature. ChatGPT search has also been integrated with WhatsApp, allowing users to message the chatbot for up-to-date answers.
The ChatGPT search update builds on OpenAI’s previous exploration of shopping features through its AI “agent” platform, Operator. While Operator takes time to browse multiple web pages, ChatGPT search with shopping offers a faster, more hands-on experience that still allows natural language queries.
