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Agentic commerce got a huge boost late Monday as OpenAI, the provider of such artificial-intelligence applications as ChatGPT, launched Instant Checkout, an agentic-commerce protocol developed with Stripe Inc. The Agentic Commerce Protocol is an open standard for AI commerce that enables AI agents to complete purchases on behalf of individuals and businesses.
OpenAI’s announcement of Instant Checkout comes hard on the heels of Google’s launch of its Agent Payments Protocol last week. The Google technology is an open protocol aimed at authenticating consumers initiating a payment using an AI agent when shopping online.
Instant Checkout will allow ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Free users in the United States to use AI agents shopping on behalf of consumers to make purchases directly from sellers on the online marketplace Etsy. OpenAI plans to expand the merchant base for Instant Checkout to Shopify sellers, the company says.
Consumers using Instant Checkout can use AI agents to purchase single items on their behalf. Plans are in the works to enable users to purchase multiple items through multiple shopping carts, according to OpenAI. The development of Instant Checkout “marks the next step in agentic commerce,” where ChatGPT doesn’t just help consumers find what to buy, but helps them buy it,” OpenAI says. The technology also helps merchants and marketplace sellers “reach hundreds of millions of people while keeping full control of their payments, systems, and customer relationships,” OpenAI says.
Currently, ChatGPT will show online shoppers “organic and unsponsored” results to search queries, such as the best running shoes under $100. Results are ranked on relevance to the user. The addition of Instant Checkout enables consumers to click a Buy button to initiate a purchase. Existing ChatGPT subscribers can pay using their card on file, or another card or payment option.
More than 700 million consumers use ChatGPT weekly to help them with everyday tasks, such as finding products, OpenAI says. Merchants pay an undisclosed fee on each purchase initiated through Instant Checkout. The service is free to consumers.
When an order is placed through Instant Checkout, ChatGPT sends the details needed to complete the purchase to the merchant using its Agentic Commerce Protocol. The merchant then accepts or declines the order, and if accepting it sends the payment to its existing processor and handles fulfillment and customer support.
Stripe merchants can enable agentic payments in as little as one line of code, OpenAI says. Merchants using a processor other than Stripe can support Instant Checkout and accept agentic payments by using Stripe’s Shared Payment Token application programming interface or by adopting the Delegated Payments Spec in the Agentic Commerce Protocol. Stripe’s Shared Payment Token API facilitates secure sharing of payment credentials between an AI agent and a merchant without exposing sensitive payment information, such as primary account numbers.
