Synchrony Partners with OpenAI to Bring Store Credit Cards Into ChatGPT for AI-Powered Shopping

Credit card issuer Synchrony partners with OpenAI for ChatGPT shopping

* Synchrony Financial is partnering with OpenAI to allow shoppers buy products directly inside ChatGPT using store-branded cards. * The company issues credit cards for brands including Amazon, Walmart and Lowe's. * Maran Nalluswami, Synchrony's chief strategy officer, told CNBC it will probably take six to 12 months to get payments fully integrated into ChatGPT. In this article * SYF Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Avishek Das | Lightrocket | Getty Images Synchrony Financial, the credit card issuer for brands including Amazon, Walmart and Lowe's, is working with OpenAI to allow shoppers buy products directly inside ChatGPT using their store cards. The deal is one of the first major moves by a U.S. consumer lender to bring financing, payments and rewards directly into an AI chatbot. While agentic commerce has become a catchphrase for the next phase of online shopping, consumers who discover items in an AI agent are typically still routed to a brand's website to execute the purchase. To change that, OpenAI has signed deals with payment processors including Visa and Stripe to move toward in-chat purchases. "What happens today is the transaction doesn't cleanly happen yet at the provider like OpenAI," said Maran Nalluswami, Synchrony's chief strategy officer, in an interview. "We want to ensure that if a transaction's going to happen in that ecosystem, our cards are loaded up in the right spots to ensure that that transaction finishes." Still, there's work ahead before seamless agentic commerce becomes reality. Nalluswami said doing the work to get cards within ChatGPT will probably take six to 12 months, and longer for private label store cards, where coordination would need to happen with individual retailers. Consumers remain cautious about handing credit card information to AI or allowing an agent to complete a purchase. There are also questions about who pays for transactions completed inside ChatGPT. Nalluswami said the economics will need to be negotiated among retailers, Synchrony and OpenAI. Synchrony is also talking with competing AI platforms, including Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini, on embedding their cards within those chatbots, Nalluswami said. This story is developing. Please check back for updates. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Synchrony wants your Amazon and Walmart store cards inside ChatGPT

Synchrony wants its Amazon, Walmart and Lowe's cards inside ChatGPT, but its own strategy chief puts full integration at six to twelve months and the fee split is unnegotiated Synchrony Financial, which issues store credit cards for Amazon, Walmart and Lowe's, is working with OpenAI so shoppers can buy inside ChatGPT using those cards. Its chief strategy officer says general-purpose cards will take six to twelve months and store-specific cards longer. Synchrony Financial wants its cards inside ChatGPT. The issuer behind store cards for Amazon, Walmart and Lowe's is working with OpenAI so shoppers can complete purchases in the chat window rather than being sent to a retailer's website. None of it is close. Getting general-purpose cards working inside ChatGPT will take six to twelve months, according to chief strategy officer Maran Nalluswami, and private label store cards will take longer because each retailer has to be brought in separately. The problem being solved is real enough. "What happens today is the transaction doesn't cleanly happen yet at the provider like OpenAI," Nalluswami said, describing a desire to ensure Synchrony's cards are "loaded up in the right spots" when the moment comes. This is a familiar shape by now. Two hotel groups moved into ChatGPT earlier this year and neither would let you pay there either. OpenAI has been assembling the pieces regardless, signing deals with Stripe and putting Visa into ChatGPT for agent-initiated payments. Synchrony is not betting on one platform. It is in talks with Anthropic and Google about embedding its cards in Claude and Gemini, in a market where Amazon has also been pushing Alexa into the same territory. The unresolved question is who gets paid. Nobody has agreed how fees from a purchase completed inside ChatGPT should be divided between the retailer, the issuer and OpenAI, and Nalluswami says that has to be negotiated. Demand is not obviously waiting either. Consumers remain wary of handing card details to an AI system or letting software finish a purchase on their behalf. In Europe the obstacle is legal rather than commercial. Agentic payments still fall under PSD2 and its strong customer authentication rules, which were written on the assumption that a person authorises a specific payee, a specific amount and a specific moment. That is awkward for a product whose entire pitch is that you do not have to be there. There is no separate regime for agentic payments in Europe and no supervisory guidance yet, which leaves the question of whether a customer authorised this purchase or merely delegated the ability to make purchases.

Synchrony Debuts ChatGPT Plugin to Promote Offers | PYMNTS.com

Synchrony's ChatGPT plugin will be available in OpenAI's ChatGPT plugin directory, according to the release. This offering is part of a broader enterprise collaboration that will see Synchrony and OpenAI bring financing, rewards and loyalty into AI-native shopping and checkout experiences and will see Synchrony deploy the latest OpenAI models across its enterprise, the release said. Synchrony's deployment of the latest OpenAI models will support the company's deeper engagement with advanced capabilities, its product development and its technology innovation across the enterprise, per the release. Maran Nalluswami, executive vice president and chief strategy and business development officer at Synchrony, said in the release that the bank aims to help shape how AI-powered commerce evolves. "This collaboration with OpenAI marks a major milestone for Synchrony, our millions of customers and hundreds of thousands of partner locations," Nalluswami said. "Together, we aim to ensure the value they've entrusted in Synchrony products will thrive in the agentic commerce era." Kaylin Voss, vice president of Americas and Industries at OpenAI, said in the release that AI is creating an opportunity to reimagine how customers discover products, pay, earn rewards and build loyalty. "Synchrony is approaching that opportunity from both sides: bringing OpenAI into the experiences it creates for customers and partners, while deploying our most advanced models and tools across its own enterprise," Voss said. "That combination can help Synchrony create better, more seamless experiences for customers while giving its teams the tools to move faster and bring new ideas to life." The PYMNTS Intelligence report "Global Digital Shopping Index: The AI-Powered Shopper Has Arrived" found that while ChatGPT barely registered as a shopping tool two years ago, it is now one of the top product discovery platforms. Thirty percent of shoppers use ChatGPT to search for product information. "This puts ChatGPT in fourth place behind Google search, Walmart and Amazon," the report said. For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.

Synchrony partners with OpenAI for AI shopping integration By Investing.com

STAMFORD, Conn. - Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) announced today an enterprise collaboration with OpenAI to integrate financing and rewards into AI-powered shopping experiences, according to a press release statement. The consumer financial services company will deploy OpenAI models including GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna across its operations through ChatGPT Work, Codex, and AWS Bedrock. Synchrony has launched a ChatGPT plugin that allows consumers to discover savings and promotional financing offers from participating partners through conversational interactions within ChatGPT. "AI is creating an opportunity to reimagine the entire commerce experience - from how customers discover products to how they pay, earn rewards, and build loyalty," said Kaylin Voss, VP of Americas and Industries at OpenAI. The plugin is now available in the ChatGPT plugin directory, enabling users to browse deals and financing options from Synchrony's partner network. Synchrony reported that nearly 100% of its professional workforce has been actively using AI tools since 2024. The company stated that 90% of employees expressed confidence in its commitment to using AI fairly and responsibly. Employees will gain access to ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Work to integrate AI into daily workflows. "With decades of experience at the intersection of consumer financing, payments, loyalty, and merchant partnerships, Synchrony is uniquely positioned to help shape how AI-powered commerce evolves," said Maran Nalluswami, EVP and Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer at Synchrony. The collaboration aims to bring Synchrony's financing and loyalty programs into what the company describes as AI-native shopping and checkout experiences as commerce becomes more agent-driven. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.