ChatGPT’s new procuring analysis instrument is quick, enjoyable, and free – however can it out-shop me?

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• OpenAI launched a procuring analysis characteristic in ChatGPT. 
• The expertise helps you discover merchandise and offers. 
• It is rolling out on cellular and net for all logged-in ChatGPT customers. 

The vacation season is upon us, and the largest procuring occasion of the season, Black Friday, is just some days away. In response, OpenAI launched a brand new characteristic in ChatGPT designed that can assist you together with your procuring duties — without cost.

While the corporate has beforehand launched AI brokers centered on automating the order-placing course of, similar to OpenAI Atlas and Instant Checkout, procuring analysis focuses on serving to you discover what you need to buy within the first place, performing as an “expert personal shopper.” 

Also: Best Black Friday offers 2025: 55+ offers on TVs, laptops, streaming, and extra

Similar to Deep Research, when prompted with a product description, ChatGPT will now sift by way of the web to place collectively a information for you. It can even ask you a collection of clarifying questions, utilizing the context from previous conversations, and contemplating product opinions to develop your information. 

What can procuring analysis do (and the way it works)

Shopping analysis is designed to behave as an assistant that may create a personalised procuring expertise tailor-made to your particular standards and wishes in just some minutes. OpenAI stated analysis outputs will help with quite a lot of completely different duties, together with discovering a product that meets particular standards, for instance, “help me find a smartphone with 18+hours of battery life under $1,500.” 

Other examples embody discovering dupes or lookalikes of a product, evaluating completely different merchandise with an in depth trade-off checklist that’s catered towards your particular wants, discovering product offers, and serving to you select presents for individuals in your checklist. 

Also: Why Amazon actually does not need Perplexity’s AI browser searching for you

The whole expertise is powered by a model of GPT-5-mini that was skilled particularly for procuring duties, in response to OpenAI. The firm stated that it was skilled to “read trusted sites, cite reliable sources, and synthesize information across many sources,” in addition to refine its prompts in real-time. 

When in comparison with different ChatGPT fashions, similar to GPT-5-Thinking or ChatGPT Search, procuring analysis leads in product accuracy. Yet, OpenAI acknowledged that it often makes errors about product particulars, similar to pricing and availability, and beneficial that customers at all times double-check its work. 

How to make use of (and entry it) 

I discovered the expertise of utilizing it to be interactive and intuitive. To get began, all logged-in ChatGPT customers, together with these with Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans, can both ask a procuring query, which can routinely activate the characteristic, or choose the “Shopping research” possibility from the menu within the textual content field.

In your first immediate, describe what you need it to do for you. Then, ChatGPT will comply with up with questions pertinent to your search, similar to your price range or the options which can be essential to you. It can even use the context it is aware of about you, if in case you have these personalization toggles on, to tailor the response towards you. 

As it conducts the analysis, it can show pattern merchandise it has discovered. With each product, you possibly can point out whether or not you have an interest or not and why you made that call, guiding the analysis additional. This was my favourite a part of utilizing the characteristic, because it felt like an interesting Tinder-like expertise, the place you possibly can rapidly click on by way of to point whether or not you want or dislike. 

Then, after a couple of minutes, it can offer you a personalised purchaser’s information that features the highest merchandise, comparisons, and hyperlinks that take you on to the retailer’s web site to put the order. In the longer term, the corporate plans to combine this characteristic into the Instant Checkout expertise, enabling you to make purchases immediately on the location.

Also: I let ChatGPT Atlas do my Walmart searching for me – this is how the AI browser agent did

OpenAI stated that consumer chats are by no means shared with retailers and that the outcomes are generated organically, primarily based on publicly accessible web sites. Sites that need to seem in outcomes should permit OpenAI’s crawlers to entry their web site, which will be executed by following the directions for the allowlisting course of. 

When I requested OpenAI how customers can belief that the websites and merchandise being beneficial are from legit sources, I used to be advised that the mannequin was skilled to keep away from low-quality and spam websites, to assist guarantee customers get the very best consumer expertise. At the identical occasion, I had the chance to strive the characteristic myself, and I had much more enjoyable than I anticipated. 

My expertise

I received a sneak peek on the new characteristic, and the largest standout to me was how interactive the expertise was. 

For instance, in a single demo, the consumer uploaded a picture of Jeremy Strong in Succession and requested the place he may discover a comparable turtleneck, for a lower cost. While you seemingly may have reverse picture searched that on Google, this time the consumer was capable of enter a fast immediate, undergo the refining “not interested” or “more like this” course of, and get a set of choices. 

In one other occasion, I needed to check discovering appropriate merchandise for my canine. I typed within the immediate, “I want to buy dog treats for a 15-pound Yorkie.” It then requested follow-up questions, similar to “Preferred treat types?” with multiple-choice solutions that learn: “Crunchy biscuits, jerky bites, soft chews, and freeze-dried.” 

Then it confirmed me the short suggestions expertise, the place I may point out whether or not I used to be kind of within the merchandise. I used to be then capable of say “not interested” and supply reasoning, similar to “too expensive” or “my dog didn’t like this brand,” which helped slim down the choices. While the procuring information was in the end not groundbreaking, I discovered it useful and would have felt comfy buying one among its beneficial merchandise, or at the very least utilizing it as a place to begin. 

Then I advised ChatGPT that I needed a costume for a selected semi-formal event that’s fitted, includes a pop of colour, and is round $100. Out of the choices that it gave me, some had been so good that I took an image on my telephone to reference later.

Also: Beware of getting your product shopping for recommendation from AI for one huge purpose, says Ziff Davis CEO

But my favourite use case was utilizing it to search out presents for individuals. Gift-giving is one thing I take explicit delight in and luxuriate in doing, so I needed to see if the AI may outdo me. I constructed a posh immediate: “I am looking for a gift for my friend who loves reading, has a 12lb yorkie, moved to a new apartment, wants to travel more next year, and is obsessed with Mickey Mouse. She is 32 years old and lives in NYC.” 

It requested which reward themes I appreciated, of which I chosen all: “reading and books, dog accessories, home decor, and travel essentials.” Then it supplied some enjoyable choices. Of course, as a result of I entered so many alternative traits, some product options missed the mark, similar to Mickey-themed all the things. However, some had been considerate, with my favourite being a present card to The Strand, a bookstore I occur to like in NYC, and maybe I would not have recognized about it if I did not stay right here. 

The verdict

Ultimately, do I feel it can fully exchange how I store? No. This is generally as a result of I like the artwork of discovering the right product on-line, whether or not it is a reward for somebody or one thing I want myself. 

However, I do assume it may very well be a useful, time-saving instrument, particularly if I’m making an attempt to remain inside a selected price range.