New Delhi: PayPal has revealed a significant collaboration with OpenAI to enable users to buy items directly in ChatGPT, which is a new phase in AI-based commerce. In 2026, customers will be able to shop and make payments with ease using ChatGPT and PayPal in its digital wallet without leaving the chat interface. The relocation is based on the OpenAI feature of the so-called Instant Checkout, which was launched in September and allows confirming the order, shipping and payment information right in the application.
The working structure will be an open-source protocol called the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) developed by OpenAI, which enables merchants to make their merchandise searchable on an AI platform. This will allow shoppers to explore and purchase merchandise of various kinds, such as clothing and cosmetics, through home and electronics without leaving ChatGPT. The routing and payments of merchants, as well as the protection of buyers, will be handled by PayPal in the background, without the additional integrations.
Seamless payments and merchant integration
The technology of PayPal will also make card payments within ChatGPT via a special payments API. The company will also introduce an agentic commerce suite to merchants in addition to allowing shopping. This will allow the sellers to post their catalogues on AI applications, receive payments through the numerous AI applications, and obtain information on customer behaviour and purchasing patterns.
In addition to business, PayPal is making ChatGPT available to all its personnel and is assisting teams with AI tools such as Codex in their code-writing and code-generation work. The firm has also worked with other AI platforms, such as Perplexity and Google, in the past to integrate payments into their systems. The aim, according to CEO Alex Chriss, is to ensure that shopping is as easy as chatting and is known as assisting people to go between the chat and checkout in a few taps.