AI-Powered Retail Growth: PayPal and OpenAI Combine ChatGPT for Effortless Shopping

PayPal (PYPL) has revealed a new strategic alliance with OpenAI, aiming to embed its payment system within ChatGPT. This integration will let users make purchases directly through the AI chatbot. Announced on October 28, 2025, the partnership utilizes the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)—a framework jointly created by OpenAI and Stripe—to deliver a smooth "chat-to-checkout" process. As part of this deal,

will enable instant checkout for ChatGPT users by offering its wallet, payment methods, and dispute management features, while also linking its worldwide merchant base to OpenAI's ecosystem . This collaboration strengthens PayPal’s role in OpenAI’s growing ambitions for AI-powered commerce, letting consumers find and buy products through conversational AI.

Starting in 2026, the partnership will allow ChatGPT users to browse and purchase from PayPal’s extensive merchant catalogs, covering sectors such as clothing, electronics, and home goods

. PayPal will oversee backend processes like merchant assignment, payment verification, and fraud prevention, easing technical demands for sellers. By consolidating these services via its ACP server, PayPal removes the need for merchants to create individual integrations, making onboarding simpler, according to FXNewsGroup . The company also intends to expand the use of OpenAI’s business AI tools—including ChatGPT Enterprise and Codex—across its workforce of over 24,000, streamlining internal operations and product innovation, as reported by StockTitan.

The announcement has already sparked a notable response in the market. PayPal’s stock jumped 14% in premarket trading after the news broke, signaling investor confidence in the fusion of AI and online payments

. PayPal CEO Alex Chriss highlighted the combined reach of ChatGPT’s 700 million weekly users and PayPal’s 400 million customers, saying the partnership would "let people move from conversation to purchase in just a few taps," as reported by Seeking Alpha. OpenAI’s Instant Checkout, introduced in September 2025, lets users confirm and pay for orders without leaving ChatGPT, a feature now enhanced by PayPal’s technology, according to TechCrunch .

This initiative fits into a larger movement toward AI-enabled shopping. PayPal’s recent collaborations with Perplexity, Google, and Shopify reflect its goal to lead in AI-based payment solutions, as noted by TechCrunch. At the same time, OpenAI is broadening its merchant partnerships, having previously brought Shopify and Etsy into ChatGPT. The ACP, built as an open protocol, allows AI agents and companies to handle transactions efficiently, with PayPal focusing on risk management and regulatory compliance, according to StockTitan.

Potential challenges include the technical hurdles of scaling ACP and maintaining strong fraud safeguards for transactions initiated by chatbots, StockTitan cautioned. PayPal will track how quickly merchants sign up, how accurately catalogs sync, and how effectively disputes are resolved in the first months of 2026 to assess the project’s commercial impact, StockTitan also reported.