ChatGPT's New Shopping Features Spark Controversy and Raise Concerns

Reddit users give their verdicts on new ChatGPT shopping features: 'the enshittification has arrived'

According to a new Reddit thread, some users are not happy with the new shopping features that are being integrated into ChatGPT and are rolling out now. The new features make it easy to search for and buy consumer products online using ChatGPT's search feature combined with its rich natural-language prompts. Reddit user 'Kjfitz', who started the thread, titled it, "the enshittification has arrived" in reference to the infamous neologism championed by Cory Doctrow in a 2022 essay about Amazon, which is generally used to describe how commercial pressures cause the experience of using platforms like Amazon, Google, and Facebook to gradually deteriorate over time as more monetization features are added. The "Enshittification" has arrived from r/ChatGPT "I asked ChatGPT about the impact of the current tariffs on inventories over the next few months. It returned a long list of links to toiletries I might want to buy", said Kjfitz. "I asked it why it did that. It replied: "As of April 28, 2025, OpenAI introduced new shopping features to ChatGPT, enhancing its capabilities to provide product recommendations complete with images, reviews, and direct purchase links. These features are available to all users, including those on Free, Plus, and Pro tiers, and even to users not logged in. The recommendations are generated organically, without paid advertisements or commission-based incentives, relying instead on structured metadata from third-party sources such as pricing, product descriptions, and reviews. "This update aims to offer a more personalized and streamlined shopping experience directly within the ChatGPT interface, allowing users to explore products across various categories like fashion, beauty, electronics, and home goods. If you have any specific preferences or need tailored recommendations, feel free to let me know!" Other Reddit users were quick to express their displeasure with the new features. In reference to the notice that "The recommendations are generated organically, without paid advertisements or commission-based incentives" User 'crystallin' commented, "I give it less than six months before that changes." "Good God. Imagine the people using ChatGPT for mental health advice and it starts saying "you know what'll fix your relationship with your kids? Switching to Allstate", said Reddit user 'rosencranberry'. In 2024, the Macquarie Dictionary, the national dictionary of Australia, picked "enshittification" as its word of the year, describing it as "the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking." It should be noted that currently there are no paid adverts or sponsored links attached to any of the shopping features in ChatGPT; however there's nothing to stop these being added in the future. We're still in the early days of shopping features being added to chatbots, and the AI search engine Perplexity has already made some inroads into adding shopping features, but this is the first time e-commerce features have been added to ChatGPT search. "We'll continue to bring merchants along our journeys as we quickly learn and iterate", said OpenAI commenting on the launch of the new features yesterday.

ChatGPT Is Already Bungling Product Recommendations

ChatGPT just received a major update to recommend specific products to users -- but it's still suffering from the same old AI problem: answers that sound good at first, but make little sense when you examine them more critically. Unlike before, OpenAI's chatbot will now pull up helpful product cards that, once clicked, open a sidebar inside the chat window to show detailed information about your shopping options, including product pictures, prices at various retailers, summaries of user reviews, and a textbox describing "why you might like this." You can also hover over a product card to show an "ask about this button," which lets you ask ChatGPT specific questions about the item. And on the backend, ChatGPT will remember your preferences to show you more personalized results. Once you choose what you want, the chatbot will direct you to the retailer's website to finalize your order. When the Verge tested these new functionalities firsthand, however, there were instantly some issues. For one, ChatGPT had trouble accurately reporting information on products that weren't out yet -- like the extremely-in-demand Nintendo Switch 2, which is currently only available for preorder. "While ChatGPT acknowledged that retailers have experienced 'rapid sellouts,' it said that Nintendo's own My Nintendo Store was one of those retailers -- even though it hasn't started sales yet," wrote the site's Jay Peters. More worryingly, the chatbot recommended some questionable vendors and seemingly invented other retailers out of thin air. "ChatGPT also pointed to some 'third-party sellers and specialized retailers' apparently offering preorders," Peters wrote, "including a $710 listing on eBay and a platform I've never heard of and can't find on Google called 'Store Collectibles.'" Bear in mind, we're talking about a product that won't start shipping until June. On eBay, you're forking over hundreds of dollars for some scalper's spot in the preorder line. Who knows what that "Store Collectibles" retailer could be. "It was a reminder that, like with other generative AI tools," Peters concluded, "you should definitely double-check what ChatGPT's shopping results show you." It's a bold step forward for OpenAI in any case. Wired observes that ChatGPT's product feature will be a challenge to Google Shopping, but with a key difference: no ads, and no sponsored content. At least for now. Ads and sponsored content contribute to Google's mammoth search revenues, which raked in the company over $50 billion in the first quarter alone. Tapping into that trillion-dollar market could be immensely lucrative for OpenAI if it started taking a cut of what it recommends or offering ads and sponsorships. Finally, the AI startup could find a way to generate real revenue and maybe even turn a profit -- because it's certainly not on track to do that with its sales of ChatGPT subscriptions when it still has hefty compute costs on its books. When Wired asked OpenAI search product lead Adam Fry about this possibility, he refused to rule it out. Fry, instead, emphasized that OpenAI is focused on the user experience first and will iterate on ChatGPT shopping as it learns more from its release.