By skyforbes 
‘Buy Now’ Gets Smarter: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Launches Instant Checkout in E-Commerce Power Shift
ChatGPT, the household name in AI chatbots, has just entered the online checkout lane — and it’s not just looking to assist your shopping searches anymore. U.S. users of ChatGPT can now complete Etsy and Shopify purchases entirely within a conversation, thanks to OpenAI’s newly launched “Instant Checkout” feature. This isn’t just a convenience upgrade — it could mark the start of a major realignment in how e-commerce works and who controls the gateways to online retail.
The move positions OpenAI not only as an AI provider, but as a potential gatekeeper for digital commerce, challenging long-time titans like Google and Amazon. Instead of hopping from a chatbot to a browser or an app to finish a purchase, users can now complete the entire buying journey — product discovery, recommendation, and transaction — without ever leaving ChatGPT.
Why should you care where your shopping journey begins? Because whoever controls that starting point can shape everything from which products are surfaced to what fees merchants pay. It’s about power. And OpenAI just placed a powerful bet.