OpenAI has launched a groundbreaking new feature for its popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT, designed to revolutionize how Indian consumers shop online. The new 'Shopping Research' feature acts as a personal shopping assistant, doing the heavy lifting of product research and comparison to save users valuable time and effort.
What is ChatGPT's Shopping Research Feature?
This new capability allows users to simply describe what they are looking for in a natural conversation. Instead of manually browsing through dozens of e-commerce websites, ChatGPT automatically scours the internet, building a comprehensive shopping guide tailored to the user's request. The feature is now available for all ChatGPT users, including those on the Free, Go, Plus, and Pro subscription tiers, accessible via both mobile apps and the web.
In an official blog post, OpenAI explained that the tool asks smart clarifying questions, conducts deep research across the internet, and reviews quality sources. It can even refer to a user's past conversations and utilize the Memory feature to generate a highly personalized buying guide that aligns with their known preferences and history.
How to Use the Shopping Feature and What It Offers
Accessing the new tool is straightforward. When a user asks a shopping-related question, ChatGPT may automatically suggest using Shopping Research. If it doesn't, users can manually activate it by pressing the '+' button below the text input bar and selecting the 'Shopping research' option.
Once a query is entered, ChatGPT presents a visual interface. The user can actively guide the research by providing feedback on suggested products, marking them as Not interested or More like this. This interactive process helps the AI refine its results in real-time.
Similar to the Deep Research feature, Shopping Research is not instantaneous. It typically takes anywhere from one minute to a few minutes to compile its findings. After this short processing period, it delivers a personalized buying guide that includes top product recommendations, key differences between them, and the latest information sourced directly from retailers.
The Future of AI-Powered Shopping
The implications for online shopping in India are significant. OpenAI has confirmed that the results shown are organic and sourced from publicly available retail sites, aiming for transparency. Furthermore, the company plans to integrate this feature into ChatGPT Pulse, which is currently limited to Pro members, where it will proactively suggest personalized buyer's guides.
Perhaps the most exciting future development is the planned introduction of direct purchasing. OpenAI announced that it will soon allow users to buy products directly via ChatGPT for merchants in regions where its Instant Checkout feature is available, potentially streamlining the shopping journey from research to purchase within a single interface.
Underpinning this new experience is GPT-5 mini, a model that OpenAI states has been specifically trained with reinforcement learning for shopping tasks, ensuring it is finely tuned for this new consumer-oriented role.
