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Grocery-delivery and store pick-up platform Instacart is partnering with ChatGPT to offer shopping and checkout within a ChatGPT conversation. The deal will enable Instacart users to shop at more than 1,800 grocers directly within ChatGPT and complete purchases in real time during a ChatGPT conversation.
The partnership with ChatGPT builds on Instacart’s artificial-intelligence strategy of leveraging generative AI to enhance both the customer shopping experience and the operating intelligence of its retail partners.
Instacart is embedding ChatGPT within its app using the agentic commerce protocol, an open standard developed by OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Stripe Inc. The protocol allows artificial intelligence-based agents to make purchases on behalf of consumers. Instacart users can install the ChatGPT app by signing in to their Instacart account.
Once an Instacart user opens and signs into the Instacart app, he or she can begin shopping with the help of OpenAI models. Users can engage ChatGPT by giving the app a prompt, such as asking “Instacart, can you help me shop for apple-pie ingredients?”. At checkout, consumers can pay for their items in the Instacart app with Instant Checkout, without having to switch between apps, Instacart says.
Launched in September, Instant Checkout is an open agentic-commerce protocol that enables AI agents to complete purchases on behalf of individuals and businesses. Instacart recommends consumers have the latest version of ChatGPT to enable the protocol.
“With the Instacart app directly in ChatGPT, users can go from meal planning to checkout in a single, seamless conversation,” Nick Turley, vice president at OpenAI and head of ChatGPT, says in a statement. “It’s another step toward bringing our vision to life—where AI delivers helpful suggestions and connects directly to real-world services, saving people time and effort in their everyday lives.”
