Credit: OpenAI

OpenAI has introduced shopping research, a new experience in ChatGPT designed to handle the heavy lifting of product discovery. Instead of browsing dozens of sites, users can describe what they need and ChatGPT will gather details, compare options and deliver a personalized buyer’s guide in minutes.

The feature begins rolling out today on mobile and web for logged-in users across Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans, with nearly unlimited usage available through the holidays.

AI-powered product discovery

Millions already rely on ChatGPT to sort through product options. Shopping research takes this a step further by turning the process into a guided conversation. ChatGPT asks clarifying questions about budget, features, style and who the item is for. It pulls up-to-date specs, prices, availability, reviews and images from high-quality sources across the internet.

The experience excels in categories with lots of detail: electronics, home and garden, beauty, kitchen gear, appliances, sports and outdoor, and more.

Users can shape the research in real time by marking items as “Not interested” or “More like this.” After a few minutes, ChatGPT returns a tailored buyer’s guide summarizing top picks, key tradeoffs and reliable retailer links.

Examples of what you can do

• Find new products: “A gaming laptop under $1000 with a 15-inch screen.”

• Discover lookalikes: “A full-length version of this dress for under $250.”

• Compare items side-by-side: “Which stroller fits my needs and budget?”

• Choose gifts: “A fun gift for my fishing-fan dad who never catches anything.”

• Find deals: “Best Black Friday price and any student discounts for these sneakers.”

Shopping research is also available in ChatGPT Pulse for Pro users, where it can proactively suggest guides based on past conversations.

How it works

The experience is powered by a version of GPT-5 mini, trained with reinforcement learning specifically for shopping tasks. It is designed to read trusted sites, cite reliable sources and synthesize details across multiple pages. During research, it can update its findings in real time as users refine preferences.

Internal evaluations show strong performance: on OpenAI’s shopping accuracy benchmark, the new model significantly outperforms GPT-5-Thinking-mini and standard ChatGPT Search.

Transparency and limitations

OpenAI says shopping research is built to be transparent. Chats are never shared with retailers, and results come from publicly available retail pages rather than paid placements. Merchants can ensure their products appear by joining an allowlist.

The company notes that the system may occasionally misread details such as price or availability, and recommends checking retailer sites before purchasing.

Just the start

OpenAI plans to expand the experience with deeper personalization, broader category coverage and more intuitive comparison tools. In the future, users will also be able to purchase items directly inside ChatGPT for participating merchants via Instant Checkout.