People say that OpenAI is planning to implement an integrated e-commerce checkout system in ChatGPT. This marks a profound transformation in the way generative AI platforms like ChatGPT engage with customers. And how fintech providers might need to reimagine their role within the transactional environment.
The new functionality, currently in development, would allow ChatGPT users to discover and purchase products directly within the chat interface. The initiative marks OpenAI’s first major push toward transactional monetization beyond subscriptions and enterprise licensing.
According to the Financial Times, the checkout process will first use Shopify‘s infrastructure to facilitate transactions. Eventually, OpenAI receives affiliate-type commissions from sales made within the AI assistant. Early user interface mockups and technical code references. This indicates that checkout buttons and cart previews will become a part of chat conversations soon. Eventually, cutting down the sequence from product discovery through payment.
Monetizing the Free Tier: A Strategic Shift
Up until now, OpenAI has largely profited from ChatGPT by way of its paid “Plus” offering and business integrations. The majority of the free plan, introducing commerce functionality, is an incredibly lucrative new money stream. More than 100 million users engage weekly.
Though we do not know the exact transaction volume. This action tracks the direction of conversational commerce. This is projected to increase from about $8.8 billion in 2025 to $32.7 billion by 2035. A compound annual growth rate of about 14.8% (Source: Future Market Insights).
Sources close to the rollout suggest OpenAI is framing the feature. As a means to turn routine chat conversations into high-intent commerce opportunities. For instance, users looking for product suggestions will eventually be able to actually buy products without ever leaving the chat box. The strategy follows larger tendencies in AI-fueled commerce, where search, conversation, and transaction continue to break down.
Fintech Implications & A New Layer of Embedded Payments
The launch of native checkout in ChatGPT has far-reaching implications for the fintech industry. Conversational AI is emerging as a point-of-sale interface. It opens up a new channel of distribution of financial services that could include digital wallets, payment orchestration, BNPL (buy now, pay later), lending instruments, and fraud detection systems.
Industry observers indicate that the fintechs might soon have to evolve their APIs and workflows to enable AI-native ecosystems. Historically, e-commerce websites and mobile applications have linked to embedded finance. Now, we can extend it to real-time chat environments where classic checkout logic does not hold true.
Here is a new payment surface,” said Anjali Deshmukh, a fintech infrastructure strategist. Further, she said, “With conversational interfaces moving from auxiliary tools to transaction spaces, fintech providers will need to reimagine how they provide trust, verification, and value at the point of intent.”
The Rise of AI-Native Commerce
OpenAI’s move highlights the accelerating shift toward AI-native commerce, a landscape where buying decisions are influenced, structured, and executed by generative models rather than conventional websites or apps.
This new behavior is generating new emphasis on what some marketers now call AIO. That is Artificial Intelligence Optimization. Just as SEO optimizes product placement in search engines, AIO means designing data, price, and policy info for discoverability and compatibility in AI-produced outputs.
Installment payment, insurance, or risk-scoring fintech products will need to become AI-compatible and machine-readable to be contextually embedded into product dialogue. Market Scale of Embedded Finance & AI in Fintech
The embedded finance market is valued at $108.6 billion in 2024 and is expected to increase to over $250B by 2029, with a CAGR of ~24–28%.
The broader AI-in-fintech market is expected to reach $17.9 billion in 2025, growing to $60+ billion by 2033, supported by an 85% adoption rate across financial institutions.
These figures underscore that OpenAI’s move is not isolated—it reflects rapidly accelerating demand for AI-native finance infrastructure.
A Compressed Funnel and Competitive Pressure
Through product discovery, comparison, and payment within a chat session, OpenAI is collapsing the digital buying funnel. Not only does this disrupt ecommerce models that rely on multi-step funnels, but it also pressures search platforms and marketplaces that are monetizing user attention along the way.
For fintech vendors, the transformation requires nimbleness. Decisioning in real-time, in-app, and in-doc embedded financing options, and fraud verification might need to occur within milliseconds, with directions not from forms and apps, but from natural language questions answered by an AI assistant.
Risks and Regulatory Issues
The revolution also introduces new regulatory complications. With monetary activity occurring within AI interfaces, adherence to KYC, AML, and data protection regulations needs to be reassessed.
“Consent, disclosure, and traceability need to be maintained even when the flow of transactions is conversational,” said Ravi Malekar, a regtech advisor. “We are entering an environment where users imply their behavior rather than state it. That needs new models of oversight.”
Regulators could soon provide guidance on how commerce platforms powered by AI treat identity, payments, and customer protection, particularly in markets with tight financial and data rules.
Fintech companies venturing into this new layer of interface should take the following steps:
- Integrate with AI frontends: Consider how your payment, credit, and identity APIs can communicate with generative AI environments in real time.
- Structure data for AI readability: Ensure that formats are released in which language models can utilize pricing models, eligibility terms, and disclosures.
- Monitor regulatory developments: Remain active with developing frameworks for AI-based commerce and financial transactions.
- Invest in trustworthiness and transparency: Make your brand and services recommendable by AI platforms credibly without jeopardizing confidence among users.
Looking Ahead
Although OpenAI has not yet announced a public release date, signs are that combined checkout functionality might reach limited deployment sometime this year. As conversational commerce comes into focus, users will increase the pressure on fintech providers to reach them within the chat interface where they make buy decisions and initiate payments in real time.
The transition represents a milestone in the transformation of AI applications from productivity tools to drivers of economic activity. For fintechs, it’s not a disruption to prepare for it’s a channel to prepare for.
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