PayPal has reached an agreement with OpenAI to embed its digital wallet into ChatGPT, allowing users to pay for items directly through the AI tool, the company told CNBC. Following the news, PayPal shares rose about 4%.

E-Commerce Transactions Enabled on ChatGPT Starting Next Year

The agreement means that starting next year, PayPal users can purchase items through ChatGPT, and merchants can sell on the platform with their inventory listed there. PayPal CEO Alex Chriss said the integration connects both sides of PayPal’s ecosystem.

"We've got hundreds of millions of loyal PayPal wallet holders who now will be able to click the 'Buy with PayPal button' on ChatGPT and have a safe and secure checkout experience," Chriss said.

Consumer and Merchant Protections Highlighted by PayPal

PayPal will handle merchant routing, payment validation, and other payment processing tasks for sellers on ChatGPT, so individual merchants do not need to register with OpenAI. Verified consumers and merchants reduce fraud risk. Users can pay using linked bank accounts, credit cards, or stored balances, with protections including package tracking and dispute resolution.

"It's not just that a transaction can happen," Chriss said. "It's that this is a trusted set of merchants, the largest merchant network in the world from PayPal, that are verified, with the largest set of verified consumers in a consumer wallet."

AI Shopping Considered the Future of E-Commerce

PayPal is joining OpenAI’s efforts to expand ChatGPT’s e-commerce capabilities. The platform’s 700 million-plus weekly users can use AI to find items. Last month, OpenAI enabled purchases from Shopify and Etsy merchants, and recently announced a deal with Walmart.

"It's a whole new paradigm for shopping," Chriss said. "It's hard to imagine that agentic commerce isn't going to be a big part of the future."

PayPal is also positioning itself as a payments backbone for AI-driven shopping, following deals with Google and AI firm Perplexity. PayPal is expanding the use of OpenAI’s enterprise AI products for its employees to accelerate product development.

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This article was created with AI assistance.