ChatGPT Shopping Research: OpenAI Transforms Your Request Into A Personalized Shopping Guide
As the holidays approach — just in time for the massive Black Friday promotions — OpenAI unveils a new feature designed to transform ChatGPT into an expert shopping assistant: Shopping Research.
The goal? To enable users to find just the right product that meets their actual needs without juggling a dozen tabs, unreliable comparisons, and dubious reviews.
And above all, to make shopping… a conversation.
No More Tab Hunting: ChatGPT Creates A Personalized Shopping Guide
OpenAI claims that millions of users are already turning to ChatGPT to help them understand, compare, or validate products. Shopping Research takes this a step further: it formalizes this behavior into a dedicated, structured, and almost editorialized experience.
Simply ask:
- “Find me the quietest cordless vacuum for a small apartment.”
- “Help me choose between these three bikes.”
- “I’m looking for a gift for my 4-year-old niece who loves to draw.”
In just a few minutes, ChatGPT generates a tailored guide, complete with recommendations, comparisons, trade-offs, updated prices, and direct links to retailers.
OpenAI summarizes the promise: “Shopping Research is designed for complex decisions, those that require clarifying needs, budget, and priorities.”
A Multi-Step Search: Smart Questions, Filtering, And Real-Time Refinement
1. Describe Your Need
The tool activates automatically when an inquiry about a purchase is made, or via the menu (+). A visual interface appears: budget, use, features, preferences…
ChatGPT can even draw on your activated memory — perfect if you frequently mention gaming, photography, or cooking.
2. The AI Conducts The Investigation
Behind the scenes, Shopping Research aggregates:
- updated prices and availability,
- technical specifications,
- product images,
- customer reviews,
- specialized sources,
- reliable comparisons.
Everything is cited through a fully transparent system. The user can refine with options like “More Like This” / “Not Interested.”
3. A Final Shopping Guide
The AI then synthesizes a clear document:
- the best options
- key differences
- compromises to consider
- verified links to retailers
And soon: direct purchases within ChatGPT via Instant Checkout.
4. Also Available In ChatGPT Pulse
For Pro users, Pulse can spontaneously offer guides. For example, after a discussion about electric bikes, Pulse might suggest… the best locks or a suitable helmet.
Technology: A Mini GPT-5 Optimized For Shopping… And Trained To Avoid Hallucinations
Shopping Research relies on a specialized version of GPT-5 mini, trained through reinforcement for commerce-specific tasks:
- accuracy of specifications
- review analysis
- reliable price extraction
- cross-source verification
- consistency with user constraints
The goal is straightforward: to minimize hallucinations, without ever claiming infallibility. OpenAI emphasizes that the data comes solely from public sites, with low-quality sources filtered out, and there may be price or availability errors → to be verified with the retailer.
Available Now — And Nearly Unlimited During The Holidays
Shopping Research begins its rollout on the web, iOS, and Android, and for all users: Free, Go, Plus, and Pro. During the holiday season, access will be “nearly unlimited” for everyone.
OpenAI is not alone in this. Google has integrated a shopping mode into Gemini, Perplexity is already trying to buy “on your behalf”… and Amazon watches these developments with a keen eye.
The conversational shopping is becoming a strategic battleground: where you search, you buy. And where you buy, the giants want to position themselves. Shopping Research marks OpenAI’s official entry into this new phase.
ChatGPT Becomes A True Product Advisor — Not Just A Simple Comparator
Shopping Research is not a gimmick. It represents a key element in OpenAI’s strategy: making ChatGPT a personal agent capable of understanding your preferences, projects, and trade-offs.
The assistant becomes a curator, an expert, an advisor, and soon… perhaps a complete purchasing point. The question remains: once the AI chooses better than we do, are we still shopping… or delegating?
