OpenAI launches AI shopping in ChatGPT – but not for Amazon products
Now OpenAI is taking AI shopping to the next level withShopping Research– a new tool that researches products online, reads reviews, and compares options based on users’ specific needs and preferences.
But there’s a massive gap:Amazon products won’t appear.
How ChatGPT’s new Shopping Research works
According toModern Retail, Shopping Research launched just in time for holiday shopping and is now available to all logged-in ChatGPT users, both on web and mobile.
- Users ask a shopping question– for example, “Help me find a dress under $300” or “Compare three bluetooth speakers”
- ChatGPT generates a short quizto clarify priorities like size, budget, or features
- Interactive interface:Users swipe right on products they like and left on ones they don’t
- Personalized recommendations:The tool delivers tailored product suggestions and a buyer’s guide based on user preferences, previous chat history, prices, specs, images, availability, and reviews
Unlike basic product searches, Shopping Research is significantly more sophisticated and personalized. It’s designed to be a complete research tool, not just a product list.
The Amazon blockade: a billion-dollar gap
But here’s the catch:Shopping Research only surfaces information from websites that permit OpenAI’s browsing agents to access their pages.
Isa Fulford, who leads OpenAI’s Deep Research and ChatGPT agent teams, told reporters:“We respect all of the OpenAI robots.txt. Anything that allows us to access their site, our product will access, and anything that we don’t, we won’t access.”
And Amazon? In recent months, they’ve updated their robots.txt file toblock several of OpenAI’s crawlers– including those used for model training, real-time browsing, and the SearchGPT engine. This is part of Amazon’sbroader campaign to prevent third-party AI toolsfrom scraping their massive e-commerce platform.
In practice, this means:
- Amazon product listings will belimited or entirely absentin ChatGPT’s Shopping Research
- When users ask for product recommendations on Amazon, ChatGPT shows products from other retailers and suggests users“manually check if they’re available on Amazon”
- ChatGPT responds directly:“I can’t browse or display live product listings from Amazon”
“Battle of the giants” – the fight for AI shopping
Instead of opening doors to external AI agents, Amazon is investing heavily in itsownAI tools:
- Rufus:Amazon’s AI shopping assistant – customers who use Rufus are 60% more likely to complete a purchase, and Amazon expects the tool to generate over $10 billion in annual sales
- “Buy For Me”:An agent that lets users buy products from other websites without leaving Amazon’s app
- “Auto Buy”:Automatically purchases products for customers when prices drop
Meanwhile, other retailers are embracing shopping within ChatGPT. OpenAI has signed deals with:
- Walmart– making their products available via ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout
- Etsy– integrated shopping directly in ChatGPT
- Shopify merchants– thousands of stores accessible via ChatGPT
- Target– launching their app inside ChatGPT
As e-commerce analyst Juozas Kaziukėnas puts it:“For now, this is like a battle of the giants.”
Organic recommendations – not paid placements
A critical detail that sets Shopping Research apart from traditional e-commerce:recommendations are organic and unsponsored.
OpenAI emphasizes that the tool:
- Ranks products primarily by relevance to the user’s query – not by who pays the most
- Prioritizes high-quality, trustworthy websites with a focus on organic content
- Includes review sites and even Reddit
- Avoids sites with pop-up ads, clear advertising, or suspicious review patterns
- Rarely shows results from platforms like Temu – users must specifically request such products
This stands in sharp contrast to Amazon, where paid product placements and “sponsored results” dominate search results – exactly what Perplexity accused Amazon of in theirlegal conflict.
No checkout yet – but it’s coming
For now, there’s no checkout feature directly in Shopping Research, but OpenAI says deeper integrations with ChatGPT’s existing in-chat checkout tools are possible later.
As Isa Fulford put it:“In the future, I can totally see them being very complementary, but we just wanted to focus first on making a really great discovery experience.”
Given OpenAI’spartnership with PayPalenabling payment directly in ChatGPT from 2026, it’s only a matter of time before Shopping Research integrates with checkout functionality.
What does the Amazon blockade mean for businesses?
E-commerce analyst Kaziukėnas assesses that the impact on sellers and merchants isn’t particularly significant – at least not yet.“For now, this is like a battle of the giants,”he says, noting that consumer adoption remains low compared to traditional e-commerce.
But the trend is clear:
- Platform independence becomes critical
“Luckily for OpenAI, there are plenty of other retailers and options to get this information from,” says Kaziukėnas, pointing to Walmart, Best Buy, and brands’ own websites. “There are very few products on Amazon that are not available elsewhere.”
For e-commerce businesses, this means:If you only exist on Amazon (or other single platforms), you become invisible in large parts of AI-driven search systems.
- Organic credibility beats paid placements
ChatGPT’s Shopping Research prioritizes reviews, Reddit discussions, and organic content over paid ads. Companies with genuinely good reviews and mentions in real discussions will win over those who just buy visibility.
- Early movers gain enormous advantage
With 50 million shopping queries per day to ChatGPTalready– before Shopping Research even rolls out globally – the market is growing explosively. Companies building their AI visibility now will dominate when AI shopping becomes mainstream.
- Partnerships with the right platforms become strategic
Walmart, Target, Etsy, and Shopify are actively choosing to partner with OpenAI. This gives them access to millions of potential customers using ChatGPT for shopping. Businesses must think strategically about which platforms they integrate with.
How Kaistone positions you for success in AI-driven shopping systems
Amazon blocks OpenAI. OpenAI launches Shopping Research. Walmart, Target, and Etsy integrate. PayPal enables payments. 50 million shopping queries per day – and growing.
This isn’t the future. This is happeningnow.
At Kaistone, we are leading experts inAEO (Answer Engine Optimization)and help businesses become visible in the AI systems shaping the future of e-commerce.
Our services for ChatGPT Shopping Research and other AI platforms:
- Multi-platform visibility strategy:We optimize your presence not just for ChatGPT, but for Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and all relevant AI systems – so you reach customers regardless of which AI they use
- Organic credibility:We help you build the authentic reputation that AI systems prioritize – through reviews on the right platforms, mentions in relevant discussions (like Reddit), and content that AI can trust
- Platform-independent e-commerce:We ensure your product information is accessible via your own websites, multiple marketplaces, and partners that embrace AI shopping (not just Amazon)
- Product information for AI:We structure your product descriptions, reviews, and specifications in ways that ChatGPT’s Shopping Research and other AI systems can easily find, interpret, and recommend
- Integration with the right partners:We help you identify and integrate with platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and other systems that have AI-friendly strategies
- Continuous monitoring:We follow the evolution of the “battle of the giants” and adapt your strategy as new AI shopping tools launch
We also holdregular seminarswhere we share the latest insights on AI shopping, platform wars, and new tools like Shopping Research, and what businesses concretely need to do to stay ahead.
ChatGPT receives 50 million shopping queries per day. Amazon blocks them. Other retailers embrace them. The question isn’t whether AI will change your industry – the question is whether you’ll be visible when it happens. No one understands AEO like we do at Kaistone. Contact us today to secure your position before your competitors do.
Read the full article from Modern Retail here:OpenAI’s new ChatGPT shopping tool promises ‘in-depth’ research — just not for Amazon products