Global payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc. has entered into a landmark partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to embed its digital wallet into the popular artificial intelligence platform. The move will allow users to buy products directly within ChatGPT, marking a major step in the evolution of AI-powered e-commerce.
PayPal confirmed the deal in an exclusive interview with CNBC, describing it as a strategic expansion that positions the company at the heart of the next wave of digital commerce. The agreement, finalised over the weekend, will connect PayPal users and merchants with ChatGPT beginning next year. Through this integration, consumers will be able to discover and purchase items seamlessly inside the chat interface, while merchants can list their products for sale within the platform.
Speaking on the development, PayPal Chief Executive Officer, Alex Chriss, said the collaboration will give users a fast, safe, and familiar way to make online payments. “We’ve got hundreds of millions of loyal PayPal wallet holders who now will be able to click the ‘Buy with PayPal’ button on ChatGPT and have a safe and secure checkout experience,” Chriss said.
The announcement follows OpenAI’s introduction of Instant Checkout, a feature that lets users in the United States search for products and pay for them directly within ChatGPT. The feature initially launched with product listings from Etsy and will soon expand to include Shopify merchants.
Underneath the system is a new open-source standard known as the Agentic Commerce Protocol, developed in partnership with payment-processor Stripe. This technology allows the entire shopping process—from product discovery and selection to checkout and delivery confirmation—to take place within the chat environment. Merchants remain responsible for product fulfilment and customer support, while ChatGPT provides the interface for search and purchase.
OpenAI has said that search rankings in ChatGPT will be based purely on relevance and not on whether an item supports Instant Checkout. With more than 700 million weekly active users, ChatGPT’s shopping capabilities are expected to transform the platform into a virtual personal shopping assistant that connects users directly with verified sellers.
Through the new deal, PayPal will handle critical backend functions including merchant routing, payment validation, and fraud prevention, ensuring that both buyers and sellers are authenticated before transactions occur. The company says this structure removes the need for merchants to register separately with OpenAI, simplifying the process and strengthening trust.
“It’s not just that a transaction can happen—it’s that this is a trusted set of merchants, the largest merchant network in the world from PayPal, that are verified, with the largest set of verified consumers in a consumer wallet,” Chriss explained.
Users will be able to pay using their linked bank accounts, debit or credit cards, or PayPal balances. The integration will also provide key PayPal services such as transaction protection, package tracking, and dispute resolution, offering users a complete and secure shopping experience directly within ChatGPT.
Beyond consumer payments, PayPal is deepening its relationship with OpenAI by adopting the company’s enterprise AI tools internally. These tools are being used to improve PayPal’s product development speed, enhance customer support automation, and streamline its financial operations.
Industry analysts say the partnership signals a major leap forward in AI-driven digital commerce, combining PayPal’s global payments infrastructure with ChatGPT’s conversational interface. As artificial intelligence becomes a more common part of daily life, the integration is expected to redefine how users search for, discover, and buy products online.
With this collaboration, PayPal positions itself as a leading enabler of AI-powered transactions, leveraging its vast merchant and consumer network to support OpenAI’s growing e-commerce ambitions. It also reflects a broader shift in the global fintech and AI ecosystem, where conversational platforms are rapidly evolving into commercial hubs that connect technology, finance, and retail in real time.
