OpenAI and the race for AI-driven commerce

Summary

OpenAI held its annual dev day on Monday, where the company rolled out its plan to build apps into ChatGPT. The demo was impressive, showing how programs like Spotify and Figma can be called or discovered without leaving the ChatGPT window. With so much of the tech world barreling towards AI integration, OpenAI’s demo was the best picture yet of what an AI-first internet might actually look like, with interfaces like ChatGPT querying information and executing commands directly. If you’re watching closely, you may have noticed that there’s a lot of room in this system for money to change hands. Just last week, the company launched Instant Checkout, an agentic shopping system that serves as payment infrastructure for one-off purchases, plugging in any stores that sell through Shopify, Etsy or Stripe. Now, apps provides the front-end infrastructure, letting service providers build their own interface into ChatGPT. In short, OpenAI now has all the pieces in place for AI-driven commerce, establishing ChatGPT as a place customers go to buy and retailers go to sell. It’s a huge new line of business for the company — and one with huge implications for the tech industry. In this world, OpenAI’s isn’t just competing with Google and Anthropic, but with Amazon and Wal-Mart. If you look at OpenAI’s pending app partners in the launch announcement, you can see how far the vision reaches. ChatGPT will be able to call you a cab through Uber, book a trip on Expedia, call a plumber or locksmith through Thumbtack, order groceries from Instacart, prepared food from Doordash, or big-box goods from Target. Without too much more work, ChatGPT could become a portal for most of its users’ discretionary spending. If it works, this would be worth a lot more than just a $20-a-month subscription. The precise terms of the arrangement are still unclear, but like any app store, OpenAI is well positioned to get a portion of any money spent on its platform. ChatGPT is also recommending products, draw...