While waiting for advertising to one day arrive in ChatGPT (it will probably happen eventually), OpenAI's chatbot will allow users to purchase products online. And this in the most natural way possible: by asking for information about the product they are looking for. ChatGPT will offer a selection of models from different merchants, with explanations and suggestions.
A new string to ChatGPT's bow
As a conversational bot, you can refine and specify your search; ChatGPT will then take care of improving the selection based on the user's requests. Currently, OpenAI is experimenting with the fashion, beauty, home goods, and electronics categories, and will expand its offerings based on feedback.
Where ChatGPT performs better than other price comparison sites, including Google's, is in the interface. It doesn't feel like a junk shop where everything flashes and is messy! Both free and paid users should see this new feature appear in the coming days (if not now).
Adam Fry, who oversees the development of search in ChatGPT, confirmed to TechCrunch that the bot's users also use it to search for information on all sorts of products — OpenAI counts more than a billion web searches per week.
One of the big differences between Google's shopping engine and ChatGPT's at the moment is that the results in the bot are "organic," they come from websites. They are not sponsored placements. "This is not advertising," insists the manager. ChatGPT does not rely on "specific signals that are in an algorithm": this new service will "try to understand how people evaluate this product, how they talk about it, what its advantages and disadvantages are."
If a user only buys pink socks from a particular retailer, ChatGPT will record this information and remember it when the user searches for this product again. OpenAI will soon integrate this system for memorizing shopping preferences, but the European Union will be deprived of it initially, to ensure that the service is square with European rules.
Regarding the crucial question of monetization, for the moment OpenAI intends to "experiment" strategies "to see what might work".
Another new feature that has nothing to do with shopping: it is now possible to send a message to ChatGPT in WhatsApp (and get a response). Simply scan a QR code available here to add the bot to your contact list.
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