PayPal has announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI to integrate its digital wallet into ChatGPT, allowing users to make purchases directly through the AI platform.
The agreement, confirmed exclusively to CNBC, positions PayPal as a key player in the rapidly expanding world of AI-powered e-commerce, combining its trusted payments network with ChatGPT’s growing commercial capabilities.
A New Era of AI Shopping
The partnership, finalized over the weekend, will go live next year, enabling PayPal users and merchants to connect directly with ChatGPT.
Consumers will be able to discover, browse, and buy products through the chat interface, while merchants can list and sell their inventory seamlessly on the platform.
“We’ve got hundreds of millions of loyal PayPal wallet holders who now will be able to click the ‘Buy with PayPal’ button on ChatGPT and have a safe and secure checkout experience,”
said Alex Chriss, CEO of PayPal.
The Backstory: ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout Feature
This collaboration builds on OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature, launched last month for users in the United States. The feature lets users search and pay for products directly inside ChatGPT, beginning with listings from Etsy and soon expanding to Shopify merchants.
At the heart of this new e-commerce flow is the Agentic Commerce Protocol, an open-source standard developed with Stripe to streamline AI-based shopping. The system enables users to find products, confirm payments, and handle shipping, all within a single chat window, while merchants retain responsibility for fulfilment and customer support.
Product rankings remain algorithmically neutral, focusing on relevance rather than whether sellers use Instant Checkout.
How PayPal Fits In
Under the new agreement, PayPal will handle merchant routing, payment validation, and backend payment processes, removing the need for sellers to register directly with OpenAI.
This integration provides users and merchants with enhanced security, fraud prevention, and seamless transactions.
“It’s not just that a transaction can happen; it’s that this is a trusted set of merchants, the largest merchant network in the world from PayPal, with the largest set of verified consumers in a consumer wallet,”
Chriss explained.
Users will be able to pay with linked bank accounts, credit cards, or PayPal balances, while enjoying benefits like transaction protection, package tracking, and dispute resolution.
Strengthening AI and Fintech Synergy
Beyond consumer transactions, PayPal is also leveraging OpenAI’s enterprise AI tools internally to improve product development, enhance fraud detection, and accelerate innovation cycles.
The partnership underscores PayPal’s ambition to become the backbone of AI-driven commerce, as artificial intelligence transforms how consumers discover and buy products.
With ChatGPT now serving over 700 million weekly users, its evolution into a personal shopping assistant could redefine how digital payments and e-commerce work in the AI age.
Conclusion
The PayPal–OpenAI collaboration marks a major milestone in the convergence of fintech and artificial intelligence. By combining ChatGPT’s conversational power with PayPal’s secure payment ecosystem, users will soon be able to shop, pay, and track orders, all without leaving the chat.
This partnership signals a new chapter in AI-powered commerce, one that could reshape digital transactions for consumers and merchants worldwide.
