OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT shopping tool before Black Friday

Driving the news: OpenAI announced Monday that shopping research is starting to roll out on mobile and web for logged-in ChatGPT users on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans.

• "To help with holiday shopping, we're making nearly unlimited usage available to all plans through the holidays," the company said in a blog post.

How it works: Ask a shopping question and ChatGPT will suggest shopping research automatically. You can also select "shopping research" from the (+) menu.

• The shopping research feature lets users describe what they need and ChatGPT builds a customized buyer's guide.
• It asks clarifying questions, incorporates past conversations, scans trusted retail sites and pulls in up-to-date details like specs, prices, reviews and availability.

Yes, but: Simple shopping questions — like checking a price or confirming a feature — will still get a regular ChatGPT response.

Between the lines: OpenAI stresses that chats aren't shared with retailers, and results come from "high-quality, publicly available" sites — not ads.

Reality check: The model can still get details wrong, including pricing and availability, OpenAI warns.

• Axios used the new tool to find the best price on a pair of Ugg slippers. We found a price with a URL for $110. ChatGPT was unable to check out through the app and when we went to the website, the lowest price was $150.

What's next: You can click through to retailers to buy today, but OpenAI says direct purchasing inside ChatGPT is coming for merchants that join its Instant Checkout program.

• Target and Walmart have both announced partnerships with ChatGPT and are among the first major retailers to turn the AI chatbot into a shopping platform.