PayPal is partnering with OpenAI to let users pay for their shopping within ChatGPT

PayPal said on Tuesday that it is adopting a protocol in conjunction with OpenAI’s “Instant Checkout” feature to allow users to pay for their shopping directly within ChatGPT, starting in 2026.

PayPal adopts the Proxy Commerce Protocol (ACP), an open source specification developed by OpenAI that allows merchants to make their products available within AI applications, thus enabling users to shop using AI agents. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature, which launched in September, allows users to confirm order, shipping and payment details and complete purchases without leaving ChatGPT.

Customers can use their PayPal wallets to pay, which the company said will enable it to provide buyer and seller protection, as well as resolve disputes. The company also provides technology to handle card payments from within ChatGPT using a separate payments API.

Next year, merchants using PayPal products will be able to discover their products on ChatGPT, ranging from categories like apparel, fashion, beauty, home improvement, and electronics. Merchants won’t need to create any integrations, as PayPal will handle merchants and payments behind the scenes.

The company said it is also launching a proxy commerce suite that will allow merchants to display their catalogs within AI apps, accept payments on various AI apps, and gain insights into consumer behavior.

PayPal is inserting itself as a payments partner into many companies’ AI-powered shopping experiences, especially as people increasingly use AI applications to do their daily tasks. In May, the company teamed up with Perplexity to let users checkout within its AI search tool, and in September, PayPal said it was adopting the Google Agent Payments Protocol to integrate its products into various Google products.

PayPal said that apart from the commerce partnership, the company is giving organizations access to ChatGPT for all their employees and allowing its engineers to better leverage OpenAI’s programming tools, Codex.

“Hundreds of millions of people turn to ChatGPT every week for help with everyday tasks, including finding products they love, and more than 400 million people use PayPal to shop,” Alex Kress, PayPal’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “By partnering with OpenAI and adopting the Proxy Commerce Protocol, PayPal will enhance payment and commerce experiences that help people go from chat to checkout with just a few clicks for our shared customer bases,” he added.