- Walmart has debuted the AI-powered Instant Checkout through ChatGPT
- The feature enables Walmart shopping via ChatGPT conversations
- Users can talk to the AI about meals they might make, new products, products they need more of
ChatGPT has begun helping Walmart shoppers find and buy items through a conversation. OpenAI and the retail giant announced that customers can start making purchases through ChatGPT using a new feature called Instant Checkout, skipping the typical website navigation process entirely.
The companies pitch Instant Checkout as ideal for those who need to buy things for a meal quickly or who notice they've run out of something like paper towels. Instead of going through the Walmart website, they'll be able to tell ChatGPT what they need, with the option to ask for suggestions on which products to get, what meal to make, and the ingredients needed. The AI uses Walmart's catalog to confirm the order, and the Instant Checkout system, which ChatGPT already uses to allow purchases on Shopify and Instacart, will handle payment.
This “agentic commerce,” as the announcement calls it, is supposed to entice people looking to leverage ChatGPT's prowess to bear on Walmart's own logistics and pricing setup. It could mark a major step forward in how AI is changing people's shopping habits.
“We’re excited to partner with Walmart to make everyday purchases a little simpler," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. "It’s just one way AI will help people every day under our work together.”
Instant Checkout is one avenue by which OpenAI is trying to make ChatGPT more of an e-commerce utility. It works with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and credit cards through Stripe. Until now, though, it has primarily been used for ordering from smaller merchants and digital storefronts. Walmart is its biggest partner to date by far.
The partnership also pushes Walmart deeper into the AI arms race against rivals like Amazon and Google. Amazon has quite a few AI tools aimed at improving the shopping experience, from Alexa voice orders to its AI assistant, Rufus. Meanwhile, Google offers AI not only for suggesting purchases but also for letting you try on clothes virtually.
Walmart uses AI in several capacities already, including for customer service. Sparky, the in-house AI assistant, helps with product recommendations and tracks inventory to help reduce wait times when people reach out for help. The ChatGPT integration makes the connection between Walmart's data and the customer even shorter. You might tell ChatGPT you're running low on school snacks and receive a curated list of kid-friendly groceries and order the lot in seconds.
“For many years now, eCommerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses. That is about to change," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement.
"There is a native AI experience coming that is multi-media, personalized and contextual. We are running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future with Sparky and through partnerships including this important step with OpenAI.”
Don't expect Walmart or other stores to lose their websites and screen-based shopping approach tomorrow, though. However, if experiments in conversational commerce like this pay off, they could at least join the list of online shopping methods. Conversational shopping portals could become as common as Amazon and Google storefronts, with AI-provided answers built in.
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