ChatGPT shopping shifts its emphasis towards discovery

OpenAI says the first version of Instant Checkout did not give merchants the flexibility it wanted. It is putting more emphasis on product discovery while allowing merchants to use their own checkout experiences. OpenAI’s update.

Shopify’s account of the same development describes shoppers completing purchases on a merchant’s store through an in-app browser. Shopify’s announcement.

This is a material change to the shopping journey introduced with ACP in September. It separates the place where a product is discovered from the system that manages the purchase.

The announcement alone does not settle the protocol’s future. It does make checkout flexibility a concrete issue to follow: customer accounts, merchant requirements and service continuity all need somewhere to live.