The way we interact with AI is evolving at a breakneck pace, and now, so is the way we shop online. In a move that signals a monumental shift in e-commerce, Stripe has announced it is powering a new, integrated checkout experience directly inside OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
If you search for a product on Google Shopping, or even browse through Amazon, you’re doing it wrong. It’s 2025 and that means there’s an AI-powered solution to get the job done faster.
This is not just another chatbot integration. Starting in the US (for now), ChatGPT users can browse and purchase goods from Etsy sellers without ever leaving the chat window. This groundbreaking partnership effectively turns the world’s most popular AI into a personal shopper and a seamless point of sale.
While this initial rollout is limited to the United States, with Shopify businesses slated to join soon, it offers a crystal-clear preview of the future of commerce. For Australian consumers and businesses, this is a development worth watching very closely.
For years, we’ve talked about “conversational commerce,” but this is the next evolutionary step. Previously, you might ask an AI for a product recommendation, and it would provide you with a list of links to click. This new integration removes that friction entirely.
Imagine asking ChatGPT to find a unique, handmade gift from an Australian artist on Etsy. The AI presents a few options, and once you decide, you simply confirm the purchase. Stripe’s robust and secure payment infrastructure handles the entire transaction in the background, making the experience incredibly fluid.
This move firmly positions Stripe as the economic backbone for the burgeoning AI era. They are not just processing payments; they are building the fundamental infrastructure that allows AI agents to participate directly in the economy.
“Buying things online is still way more complicated than it should be. With agentic AI, it doesn’t have to be. We’re moving beyond conversational commerce, where you chat with a bot, to a future where an AI can act on your behalf.
By integrating Stripe’s checkout directly into platforms like ChatGPT, we are removing the final barrier between intent and purchase, creating a truly seamless experience for consumers and a powerful new channel for businesses.”
Will Gaybrick, President of Product and Business, Stripe
To facilitate this new paradigm, Stripe and OpenAI have also co-developed a new open standard that could reshape how businesses connect with AI.
Agentic Commerce Protocol
This is a new open standard designed to help businesses adapt as AI agents become more prevalent in commerce. It essentially creates a common language for AI models to understand product details, check inventory, and initiate transactions with businesses in a reliable and standardised way.
By making this an open standard, Stripe and OpenAI are encouraging a broad ecosystem to develop around it. This prevents a “walled garden” scenario and allows any business, developer, or AI platform to adopt the protocol, fostering innovation and competition across the board.
This isn’t a one-off experiment for Stripe, either. The company has integrated similar technology to power the in-app shopping experience for the AI-powered search engine, Perplexity. This demonstrates a clear and scalable strategy to embed their payment solutions wherever commercial intent exists, especially within AI platforms.
For Australian businesses, particularly those on platforms like Etsy and Shopify, the implications are enormous. The US launch serves as a testbed for a system that will almost certainly roll out globally. Getting ready for this shift now could provide a significant competitive advantage.
This means you should be thinking about how your product listings are written. Are they optimised for an AI to understand and recommend? Is your inventory data accurate and readily accessible via APIs? These are the questions businesses should start asking.
The potential for consumers is equally transformative. Your personal AI agent could one day manage your shopping based on complex requests. You could ask it to “find a new pair of running shoes similar to my last pair, but in blue, under A$200, and from a store that can deliver by Friday.”
The AI would then leverage the Agentic Commerce Protocol to query relevant stores, compare options, and present the best choice for a one-click purchase powered by Stripe. It’s a level of convenience and personalisation that goes far beyond anything we have today.
While there’s no official timeline for an Australian launch, the rapid pace of AI development suggests we won’t be waiting long. This is more than just a new feature; it’s a foundational piece of a new, AI-driven commercial landscape, and Stripe is laying the tracks for the train that’s about to leave the station.
For more information, head to https://stripe.com/newsroom and https://openai.com/index/buy-it-in-chatgpt/
