AI Shopping Wars Heat Up: OpenAI and Perplexity Launch Holiday Shopping Assistants

OpenAI and Perplexity are launching AI shopping assistants, but competing startups aren't sweating it | TechCrunch

With holiday shopping on the horizon, OpenAI and Perplexity both announced AI shopping features this week, which integrate into their existing chatbots to help users research potential purchases. The tools are markedly similar to one another. OpenAI suggests that users could ask ChatGPT for help finding a "new laptop suitable for gaming under $1000 with a screen that's over 15 inches," or they can share photos of a high-end garment and ask for something similar at a lower price point. Perplexity, meanwhile, is playing up how its chatbot's memory can augment shopping-related searches for its users, suggesting that someone could ask for recommendations tailored to what the chatbot already knows about them, like where they live or what they do for work. Adobe predicted that AI-assisted online shopping will grow by 520% this holiday season, which could be a boon for AI shopping startups like Phia, Cherry, or Deft -- but with OpenAI and Perplexity pushing further into AI shopping experiences, are these startups in danger? Zach Hudson, CEO of the interior design shopping tool Onton, thinks that AI shopping startups with a specialized niche will still provide a better experience to users than general-purpose tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. "Any model or knowledge graph is only as good as its data sources," Hudson told TechCrunch. "Right now, ChatGPT and LLM-based tools like Perplexity piggyback off existing search indexes like Bing or Google. That makes them really only as good as the first few results that come back from those indexes." Daydream CEO and longtime e-commerce executive Julie Bornstein agrees -- she remarked to TechCrunch over the summer that she always viewed search as "the forgotten child" of the fashion industry, since it never worked particularly well. "Fashion ... is uniquely nuanced and emotional -- finding a dress you love is not the same as finding a television," Bornstein told TechCrunch on Tuesday. "That level of understanding for fashion shopping comes from domain-specific data and merchandising logic that grasps silhouettes, fabrics, occasions, and how people build outfits over time." AI shopping startups develop their own datasets so that their tools are trained on higher-quality data -- something that's easier to achieve when you're attempting to catalog fashion or furniture, rather than the sum of all human knowledge. In Hudson's case, Onton developed a data pipeline to catalog hundreds of thousands of interior design products in a cleaner manner, helping to train its internal models with better data. But if AI shopping startups don't pursue that level of specialization, Hudson thinks they're bound to be overshadowed. "If you're using only off-the-shelf LLMs and a conversational interface, it's very hard to see how a startup can compete with the larger companies," Hudson said. The advantage for OpenAI and Perplexity, however, is that their customers are already using their tools -- plus, their large presence lets them ink deals with major retailers from the get-go. While Daydream and Phia redirect customers to retailers' websites to complete their purchases -- sometimes earning affiliate revenue -- OpenAI and Perplexity have partnerships with Shopify and PayPal, respectively, allowing users to check out within the conversational interface. These companies, which depend on mammoth amounts of expensive compute power to operate, are still trying to figure out a path to profitability. If they take inspiration from Google and Amazon, then it makes sense to look toward e-commerce as an option -- retailers could pay them to advertise their products within search results. But eventually, that could just exacerbate the existing issues that customers have with search. "Vertical models -- whether in fashion, travel, or home goods -- will outperform because they're tuned to real consumer decision-making," Bornstein said.

Perplexity's Revamped AI Shopping Experience Is Here Just in Time for Black Friday

Imad is a senior reporter covering Google and internet culture. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN, Tom's Guide and Wired, among others. Perplexity is relaunching its AI-powered shopping experience for free for all users ahead of Black Friday, with memory improvements, personalization and product cards, the company said in a press release on Wednesday. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. The revamped experience is more conversational. The AI will help people narrow down the type of product they're looking for. It'll also call upon past chats to personalize product recommendations. Perplexity said new intelligent product cards will showcase the best options, which is better than the "endless grid of items" that don't "inspire joy." Perplexity will leverage its PayPal partnership from earlier this year to help with checkout. Since consumers are increasingly conversing with AI chatbots when shopping online, AI companies are releasing more comprehensive shopping experiences to keep users coming back. This includes adding more information, images and checkout functions. And with AI-powered web browsers, like Perplexity's Comet or ChatGPT Atlas, agentic features are available that allow the AI to browse the net and fill shopping carts on behalf of the user. Google's Gemini recently added a feature that automatically buys a product if it hits a desired price point. AI-powered checkout isn't without its problems, however. There's a concern that brands are tuning their content to be easily digestible by AIs. While AI platforms try to pull from authoritative sources, some review sites are actively blocking AI crawlers. The result is that AI can be based more on marketing content than on unbiased, critical reviews. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Perplexity says its AI personal shopper 'puts you first'

Perplexity is ramping up its AI shopping experience going into the holiday season, just like OpenAI and Google, with a free AI-powered shopping feature that is available now to US users. Its AI assistant looks similar to what we've seen from ChatGPT's shopping research, as users type in what they're looking for and refine the results with follow-up questions. The recommended products show up as cards with specs and reviews, and users can buy products directly through Perplexity from merchants that support PayPal. If you ask for a jacket to wear on your commute by ferry across the Bay to San Francisco, Perplexity says the chatbot will remember this past interaction to inform its recommendation when you later ask for boots. It's available now on the desktop and web, with mobile access via iOS and Android due in "the coming weeks." Perplexity says its "Instant Buy" partnership with PayPal allows merchants to stay in the retail loop and build relationships with customers, "just as they would on their own sites," perhaps as a way to address what The Verge EIC Nilay Patel has described as "the DoorDash problem." Perplexity's announcement post takes digs at search bars that it says "fail at exploration" and editorial outlets that "prioritize affiliate revenue over matching readers to the exact products they'll love" (maybe you could take a look at our Black Friday guide and see how it measures up?). Online shopping, Perplexity says, tends to focus on speedy checkouts, "not the joy" of shopping. Instead, Perplexity says its AI assistants, also called agents by other companies, "understand intent, remember preferences, and act as extensions of how users would approach a task on their own."

Perplexity lets you instantly buy with PayPal in a chat now - and get up to $50 back

Only five brands are currently available, with more on the way. Perplexity and PayPal are capitalizing on the upcoming holiday shopping rush with a new "instant buy" feature, which allows users to securely purchase products via their PayPal account -- without leaving their Perplexity chat. Also: ChatGPT's new shopping research tool is fast, fun, and free - but can it out-shop me? The feature is built on top of Perplexity's AI-powered shopping agent, which the company introduced last year, and is free starting Tuesday for all US users on the company's website and desktop app. It will be available for iOS and Android in the coming weeks, according to a company blog post. That agent is designed to operate as a virtual shopping assistant, taking specific user queries -- like, "I'm looking for a comfortable but stylish pair of boots to keep my feet warm and dry through the New York winter" -- and then digging through the web to surface personalized results, along with relevant customer reviews and other useful information. It also references past chats to flesh out individual user profiles over time, allowing it to recall certain details about their life and taste that are germane to a product recommendation. Similarly to Amazon's "Buy Now" button, which enables online shoppers to immediately purchase a product without first adding it to their online cart, Perplexity's new instant buy feature is intended to minimize the number of steps between product discovery and checkout, thereby theoretically increasing the chances that a customer will complete a purchase. Also: Want to ditch ChatGPT? Gemini 3 shows early signs of winning the AI race The feature offers brands a mechanism through which they can get the right products in front of a customer quickly, rather than forcing them to scroll through a dense, ad-filled grid of different options. "Shoppers and merchants demand a better e-commerce experience in the age of AI, one that's as personalized as it is seamless," Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity's Chief Business Officer, said in a statement. Currently, product catalogues from just five brands -- including Abercrombie & Fitch, Ashley Furniture, and Fabletics -- are available for purchase through the new instant buy feature, but "many others" will eventually be onboarded, according to a press release issued by Perplexity. Also: Use AI browsers? Be careful. This exploit turns trusted sites into weapons - here's how As a holiday shopping incentive, Perplexity users who complete a purchase before 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1 via the PayPal-powered instant buy feature will receive a one-time payment of 50% of the purchase price back into their account (with a $50 limit). Perplexity has been competing with other developers to build AI agents that can assist users with online shopping, among other tasks. Users can prompt Agent mode in OpenAI's Atlas browser, for example, to add particular items to an online shopping cart for them and review the final order before purchase. Google's AI Mode offers gift suggestion capabilities that include surfacing products. Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce site, launched an AI shopping assistant named Rufus in July. The company also recently threatened legal action against Perplexity, claiming that Perplexity's own agent has been illegally and surreptitiously operating on behalf of users on Amazon's website. Also: How small businesses can survive AI shopping: 7 essential steps AI shopping assistants represent just one of the many fronts in the ongoing competition between tech companies to fuse agents into virtually every major touchpoint of users' digital lives, from email and browsing to everyday search.

Perplexity Rolls Out a Free AI Shopping Tool With PayPal Instant Buy Support

Black Friday is almost here, and Perplexity has rolled out an AI shopping experience to help users find the right products and purchase them instantly. Perplexity is touting the experience as one that "puts you first." Instead of promoting products that bring more affiliate money, the platform will recommend items that fit each shopper's needs, based on past chats and their preferences. Sharing an example, Perplexity says that the search for the best winter jacket for a person living in San Francisco and commuting to work on a ferry will produce results tailored to that specific use case. Follow-up queries for an add-on, like boots, will also keep the user's situation in mind. In another example, the AI startup says that a search for desk lamps will bring up results to match the user's design aesthetic learned from previous conversations. If someone prefers a mid-century look, they might find matching products without having to specify their tastes. In the results page, the product cards carry an image with pricing, delivery, and website details. You also get curated reviews and recommendations, along with an "Instant Buy" button to help check out quickly. The button was built in partnership with PayPal and is expected to eventually support over 5,000 merchants. PayPal also has a similar payment partnership with OpenAI's ChatGPT, which added its own shopping assistant earlier this week. To start AI-assisted shopping on ChatGPT, you need to select the shopping option from the chat menu or type "/shopping" in the prompt. On Perplexity, though, you can start by mentioning your intent to purchase a product. This isn't Perplexity's first shot at AI-assisted shopping. Last year, the platform rolled out a "Buy with Pro" button that allows Pro subscribers to complete purchases from supported merchants instantly. If the merchant isn't onboard, the link redirects to their official website. As for the shopping experience released this week, it's completely free for all users in the US on web and desktop. Support for Android and iOS apps will be launching in the coming weeks, Perplexity says.

Perplexity's AI shopping tool is free for all now, just in time for Black Friday - how to use it

It's part of Perplexity's vision of a more personalized internet. We're just a little more than one week away from Black Friday, the unofficial start of the annual nationwide holiday shopping spree. AI startup Perplexity is gearing up by reintroducing its AI-powered shopping agent. Also: I let Google's new AI tools take on my holiday shopping list - here's how it went Originally launched almost one year ago for Pro and Max subscribers, Perplexity's shopping agent is intended to serve as a kind of virtual assistant that saves users time by surfacing personalized product recommendations and minimizing the steps between discovery and checkout. The assistant's "Buy With Pro" feature, which lets users buy items with one click, used to be reserved for Pro users -- a $20 per month subscription -- but is now available for everyone for free. Users can start by querying either Perplexity's desktop app or website. Perplexity will then "detect if your question has shopping intent, and integrate product recommendations directly into that answer," the company explained in the release. Like all of Perplexity's products, the shopping assistant is built atop a large language model, allowing it to interact with users via natural language text. Its agent architecture further enables it to retrieve "memories" from past conversations with a particular user, search through websites to retrieve relevant product information, complete purchases, and perform other tasks integral to the online shopping experience. Also: How small businesses can survive AI shopping: 7 essential steps Say you're shopping for a new acoustic guitar. Rather than feeding a vague search query like "affordable new guitars" into a search engine and having to parse through a virtually limitless list of web links, the idea behind Perplexity's new shopping agent is that it actively helps you to figure out exactly what you're looking for, while you look for it. You might tell the agent: "Help me find an inexpensive but high-quality acoustic guitar that's well-suited to an adult beginner." From there, it'll prompt you with some follow-up questions to help refine your search. Instead of presenting you with a long grid of similar-looking items, the agent responds with what Perplexity calls "product cards," which include an image, the price, and an AI-generated product description. Building off its preexisting partnership with PayPal, Perplexity's shopping agent can also complete purchases right from a product card through an integrated link with the online payment service. The new agentic shopping experience is slated to launch next week and will be free for all US-based Perplexity users, according to the company. It's initially only available through Perplexity's website and desktop app, but will be accessible via the company's iOS app and Comet browser in the coming weeks, according to the announcement. The news of the upcoming launch arrives at a time when many leading tech companies have been investing heavily in so-called agents, AI systems that go beyond the capabilities of traditional chatbots by autonomously handling complex tasks involving multiple steps with little to no human oversight. Agents can also leverage separate digital tools, including web browsers and other AI agents. Also: I let ChatGPT Atlas do my Walmart shopping for me - here's how the AI browser agent did Specifically and especially during holiday season, AI companies are launching tools for agentic shopping. For example, OpenAI's browser, Atlas, includes an Agent Mode that lets ChatGPT shop for you. Some AI developers have focused on delivering agents to businesses, driven by the notions that such tools can boost employee productivity and increase profit, both of which have yet to be definitively proven. Perplexity, meanwhile, has set its sights more on building agents for individual users. The company positions itself as the vanguard of a new and more democratic internet, one that stands in sharp contrast to the current online ecosystem, which is governed by the dictates of advertising and the interests of legacy tech giants. It recently launched an agent to help users manage their email, for example, and it's positioned Comet as the cornerstone for a new, more interactive and collaborative (between humans and AI) kind of web browsing. Also: Why Amazon really doesn't want Perplexity's AI browser shopping for you One of those legacy tech giants has begun to push back, however. Earlier this month, Amazon threatened legal action against Perplexity, claiming that by surreptitiously deploying Comet to shop on behalf of users on Amazon's online store, Perplexity "has already caused considerable harm, including disrupting Amazon's customer relationships and forcing Amazon to devote significant resources to track, investigate, and address Perplexity's misconduct." Perplexity brushed off the claim, calling it "bullying" and "a threat to all internet users.

Perplexity announces its own take on an AI shopping assistant

Perplexity is rolling out a new shopping feature to make buying things through its AI assistant easier and more personalized. The company's new feature is free for all Perplexity users in the US and builds on Perplexity's existing relationship with payment provider Paypal. The new shopping experience lets Perplexity users conduct more personalized product searches, like asking "What's the best winter jacket if I live in San Francisco and take a ferry to work?" Perplexity says its assistant can keep the context of your chat in mind as it searches for products, and incorporate details it's learned about your life and preferences to tailor results. Once the assistant has found products it wants to show you, it can then present them in nicely formatted product cards, with pros and cons about each jacket, for example, and other relevant details pulled from reviews and guides. If one of the products Perplexity finds seems like the right fit, you can also purchase the product directly through the company's assistant, and pay with payment details stored in a PayPal account. This "Instant Buy" experience provided by Perplexity and PayPal extends to all merchants who offer PayPal as a payment method. While that sounds like it could make a key element of the shopping experience obsolete for these online stores (you never actually visit their website), Perplexity claims merchants still own the most important parts. "They have full visibility into who their customer is, can process returns, build loyalty, and own the post-purchase relationship, just as they would on their own sites," the AI company says. Perplexity's push into online shopping is similar to the "shopping research" feature OpenAI recently added to ChatGPT, and new product recommendation features Google's added to AI Mode in Google Search. While all these tools are pitched as a more personalized alternative to the shopping guides you'll find on Engadget and other editorial sites, they often work under the same logic. By referring someone to a product, AI companies hope to receive a payment or a fee from the transaction if the person makes a purchase. Ultimately, Perplexity is equally interested in offering an end-to-end solution, where it finds and purchases products without a human needing to step in. The company received a cease-and-desist from Amazon at the beginning of November for letting the agent in its Comet browser complete Amazon purchases on users' behalf.

Perplexity AI announces free product to streamline online shopping

Perplexity AI on Wednesday announced it will roll out a free agentic shopping product for U.S. users next week, as consumers ramp up spending for the holiday season. "Most people want to still do their own research. They want that streamlined and simplified, and so that's the part that is agentic in this launch," Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity's chief business officer, told CNBC in an interview. The artificial intelligence startup has partnered with PayPal ahead of the launch, and users will be able to directly purchase items from more than 5,000 merchants through Perplexity's search engine. Perplexity initially released a shopping offering called "Buy With Pro" for its paid subscribers late last year. The company said its new free product will be better at detecting shopping intent and will deliver more personalized results by drawing on memory from a user's previous searches. Perplexity declined to share whether it will earn revenue from transactions that are completed through its platform. The startup's competitor OpenAI announced a similar e-commerce feature called Instant Checkout in September, which allows ChatGPT users to buy items from merchants without leaving the chatbot's interface. OpenAI has said it will take a fee from those purchases.

PayPal wants you to do holiday shopping through an AI chatbot

* PayPal now powers direct in-chat checkout on Perplexity for select major retailers. * Integration keeps payments in-chat using PayPal's identity and buyer/seller protections. * I'd still recommend doing your own checkout -- AI can err, and PayPal protection isn't a full fix. AI has matured a lot, and it wouldn't be right not to recognize it. But it also makes the occasional mistake. And when it comes to money, you probably don't want mistakes. So maybe steer clear of Perplexity this Black Friday season. PayPal has officially announced the implementation of a direct checkout integration within the AI chatbot Perplexity. This new feature allows you to execute purchases from select major retailers without navigating away from the chat interface. Under the new system, PayPal works as the underlying commerce engine for Perplexity's revamped shopping interface. Previously, AI search tools provided links to external vendor sites; this integration allows the transaction to occur entirely within the AI's answer engine. The system utilizes PayPal's existing infrastructure for identity verification, purchase protection, and seller protection. By keeping the checkout process within the chat window, the companies aim to reduce the friction typically associated with mobile web checkout flows. At launch, the functionality supports real-time catalog browsing and direct checkout for a roster of high-profile merchants, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Ashley Furniture, Fabletics, Adorama, and Newegg. PayPal has indicated that further merchant adoption is expected in the coming months. And PayPal says that merchants have a low barrier to entry if they do want to check this out. It allows merchant product catalogs to become instantly discoverable within Perplexity's search results, and it enables merchants to accept payments directly on the Perplexity platform using their existing PayPal configurations. Neither PayPal nor Perplexity take payments from users. Instead, PayPal acts as a bridge, ensuring the retailer maintains direct control over the customer relationship and receives payment directly. Personally, I'm not sure we're at the point yet where you should use AI for shopping at all. Sure, it can help you discover items, but AI can still make mistakes. Imagine it messes some stuff up during the checkout process. Maybe it checks you out for the wrong item, or it charges you extra money. Tragic. You still have PayPal protection in that case, but you should probably nonetheless do your whole checkout process yourself. It's easier and it will save you time (and more importantly, money).

Perplexity launches Instant Buy AI shopping assistant with PayPal

Perplexity has launched a new AI shopping assistant feature for its users in the United States, enabling easier and more personalized product purchases through its AI system. The tool, available at no cost, leverages the company's partnership with PayPal to facilitate direct buying from any compatible merchant. The feature allows users to pose highly specific queries about products, drawing on personal circumstances to refine recommendations. For instance, a user might inquire about the optimal winter jacket suited to residing in San Francisco while commuting via ferry. In response, the AI assistant maintains the ongoing conversation's context, integrating details about the user's lifestyle and preferences to customize search outcomes. This approach ensures that suggestions align closely with individual needs, such as weather patterns in a coastal city or practical requirements for daily travel. After identifying suitable items, the assistant displays them in structured product cards. Each card includes a breakdown of advantages and disadvantages for the item, alongside pertinent information extracted from customer reviews and expert guides. This presentation format organizes details efficiently, allowing users to evaluate options based on real-world feedback and comparative analysis without navigating external sites immediately. Upon selecting a product that matches their criteria, users can complete the purchase seamlessly within the Perplexity interface. Payments occur using stored details from a linked PayPal account, streamlining the transaction process. Known as the "Instant Buy" option, this functionality extends to every merchant that accepts PayPal as a payment method, broadening accessibility across various online retailers without requiring redirects to individual websites. Perplexity addresses potential concerns for merchants by affirming their continued control over key customer interactions. The company states that retailers retain full visibility into customer identities, handle return processes, develop loyalty programs, and manage relationships after sales, mirroring operations on their own platforms. "They have full visibility into who their customer is, can process returns, build loyalty, and own the post‑purchase relationship, just as they would on their own sites," the AI company says. This initiative parallels recent developments from other AI providers. OpenAI integrated a shopping research capability into ChatGPT, while Google introduced product recommendation tools within its AI Mode for Search. Both features position AI as a tailored substitute for traditional editorial shopping guides found on sites like Engadget. Underlying these systems is a revenue model where AI firms receive a payment or fee upon successful product referrals leading to purchases. Perplexity's strategy emphasizes a comprehensive end-to-end process, encompassing product discovery and acquisition without any human involvement beyond initial queries. This vision encountered a setback in early November when Amazon issued a cease-and-desist order to Perplexity. The action targeted the Comet browser agent, which had been enabling automated completions of purchases on Amazon's platform using users' accounts.

Perplexity Launches New AI Shopping Tool, Joins Google and OpenAI

The new tool remembers user history to tailor product recommendations Perplexity has released a personalised shopping experience on its platform. The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) company will now let users discover relevant products based on natural language conversations and allow them to quickly transact via PayPal. Interestingly, with the holiday season approaching, AI companies have now started bringing out AI-led shopping tools, focused on personalised discovery. Last month, Google released shopping tools in Gemini and AI Mode. On Monday, OpenAI also released its own Shopping Research in ChatGPT. Perplexity Introduces New AI Shopping Tool In a blog post, the AI firm announced and detailed the new shopping feature. The tool uses a conversational, context-aware assistant that remembers users' past preferences and simplifies the shopping experience from discovery to checkout. Currently, it is available in the US on the desktop and web. Perplexity said it will soon be rolled out on Android and iOS as well. With this feature, users can type or speak natural language questions like "Find a winter jacket suitable for ferry commutes" or "Suggest minimalist running shoes under Rs. 5,000." Instead of returning long grids of products, the AI returns a curated set of product cards based on the user's listed requirements and past conversations. The user can also refine results with follow-up messages. The feature uses both past conversations with the user and long context to recommend products to users. For instance, if a user has previously browsed minimalistic design items, the system may tilt future suggestions toward similar styles. Perplexity states that it does not prioritise results based on sponsored listings and does not re-rank items based on advertising. Perplexity also offers payment support within the interface via a partnership with PayPal. The startup claims that despite offering product discovery and instant checkout on its platform, the feature is beneficial for third-party merchants for two reasons. First, it claims that merchants still have control over fulfilment, customers' purchasing data, and post-purchase experience to turn them into a returning user. Second, it claims that the individuals using the shopping experience on Perplexity have a higher intent to purchase compared to those who visit the website and scroll through listings. Notably, Perplexity's comments on how its shopping tool is beneficial for merchants comes, as earlier this month, Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter to the AI firm, demanding that it stop its bot crawlers from scraping its website. The e-commerce giant had alleged that Comet browser's AI agents were using unauthorised means to access website content.

PayPal and Perplexity Debut Instant Buy Ahead of Black Friday Shopping | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The companies said the feature streamlines online shopping by turning conversational queries into purchase-ready actions. Instant Buy uses PayPal's identity, payments, and buyer protection systems while keeping the merchant of record with retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Fabletics, Ashley Furniture, and NewEgg. The companies said the setup preserves direct customer relationships while allowing merchants to participate in AI-driven commerce without building custom integrations. To mark the launch, PayPal is offering 50% back on a consumer's first Instant Buy transaction made between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1, capped at 50 dollars, just in time for Black Friday and holiday shopping. The rollout expands Perplexity's earlier prototype shopping features into a full transactional environment supported by more than 5,000 merchants. PayPal said the partnership builds on its broader push to embed payments in AI-first experiences, including its recent collaboration with OpenAI that brought checkout directly into ChatGPT. PYMNTS reported that PayPal's integration with ChatGPT marked a significant step toward bringing payments directly into conversational AI interfaces, setting the stage for agent-led shopping across platforms. Perplexity's approach compresses the search, browse and cart sequence into a single conversational thread. Users can ask for product recommendations, compare items and buy within the same interface. The company said this model reduces friction by eliminating the need to switch between apps or websites while shopping. PayPal provides the underlying commerce services and two merchant tools, store sync and agent ready, to bring catalog data and fulfillment systems into Perplexity's environment with limited engineering work. Early versions of Instant Buy and similar offerings have gained visibility among merchants exploring ways to reach consumers who are shifting product discovery to AI systems. The companies said more capabilities will be introduced in early 2026, including deeper catalog connectivity and expanded merchant categories. Retailers and payment providers have been rolling out AI-led purchase flows over the past year as more shoppers begin product searches in conversational systems rather than on websites. Adoption has been uneven, and some early pilots reported inconsistent user experiences and low conversion rates as customers tested the new interfaces.

Perplexity to launch free AI shopping feature ahead of holiday season By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Perplexity announced Wednesday it will introduce a free agentic shopping product for U.S. users next week, just as holiday shopping begins to accelerate. The artificial intelligence startup's new feature will allow users to make purchases directly through search results. "The agentic part is the seamless purchase right from the answer," Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity's chief business officer, told CNBC in an interview. "Most people want to still do their own research. They want that streamlined and simplified, and so that's the part that is agentic in this launch." Learn what AI stocks Wall Street analysts favor the most by upgrading to InvestingPro - get 55% off today For this shopping initiative, Perplexity has formed a partnership with PayPal. The company plans to eventually enable direct purchases from more than 5,000 merchants through its search engine. This new offering builds upon Perplexity's "Buy With Pro" feature, which was released for paid subscribers late last year. According to the company, the free version will offer improvements in detecting shopping intent and will provide more personalized results by utilizing memory from users' previous searches. When asked about potential revenue from transactions completed through its platform, Perplexity declined to provide details.

Perplexity launches its own AI shopping experience, but with a catch

Perplexity has also teamed up with PayPal to support checkout inside the same experience. Perplexity is stepping into the AI shopping race by launching a free, AI-powered shopping feature which "puts you first." You can ask questions the way you'd explain your situation to a friend. For example, you can ask about a winter jacket that works for San Francisco's cooler weather. Perplexity's AI will then suggest options tailored to that specific lifestyle, rather than showing generic top lists. The assistant keeps track of context as you go. If you follow up with, "Okay, what about boots?" it remembers your earlier details and adjusts its suggestions. Over time, it also learns your style and patterns. So if you've shown interest in mid-century modern furniture or minimalist running gear, it will try to reflect those tastes in future product ideas. Also read: Flipkart Black Friday Sale: Samsung Galaxy S24 FE price drops by Rs 28,000, check details Perplexity also wants to change how results are shown by other AI assistants. Instead of crowded pages of tiny thumbnails, it offers focused product cards that highlight the details that matter most for your question, along with key specs and review insights. On top of that, Perplexity has teamed up with PayPal to support checkout inside the same experience. The retailer is still the official seller, so they handle returns, customer support, and loyalty programs as usual. Perplexity says this approach is better for both shoppers and merchants. Also read: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra tipped to get bigger battery and faster charging than S25 Ultra But there's a catch: this new shopping experience is currently only available to users in the United States. Also, for now, it works on desktop and the web, with mobile apps expected in the coming weeks. Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE price drops by Rs 16,000 on Amazon: How to grab this deal