OpenAI Enhances ChatGPT with New Shopping, Search, and WhatsApp Features
ChatGPT is stepping up its game to become a more helpful tool for online shopping. OpenAI recently announced new improvements aimed at making ChatGPT’s web search and shopping features more powerful and user-friendly.
In a fresh update, OpenAI revealed that users can now shop directly from within the ChatGPT app. This feature is part of the updated ChatGPT Search mode, allowing users to browse and find products across the internet, similar to how Google Search operates. "We're excited to announce we’ve launched several improvements to ChatGPT search, and today we’re starting to roll out a better shopping experience," OpenAI shared in a post on X. The company emphasize edits goal to make "shopping simpler and faster to find, compare, and buy products in ChatGPT." This new shopping functionality is available on ChatGPT’s default 4-o model.
ChatGPTSearch has rapidly become one of OpenAI’s most-used and fastest-growing features. According to OpenAI, "Search has become one of our most popular& fastest growing features, with over 1 billion web searches just in thepast week," demonstrating how central search has become to the ChatGP Texperience.
With the new update, users can expect to see improved product results, visual details, pricing information, reviews, and direct links to buy products. Importantly, OpenAI clarified that "product results are chosen independently and are not ads," reassuring users that the recommendations are unbiased. The feature is being rolled out to Plus, Pro, Free, and even logged-out users across all regions where ChatGPT is available, with full availability expected in the next few days.
During our testing on a free ChatGPT account, we found a mix of functional links and product names. For example, while recommendations for Amazon India and Flipkart worked correctly, other brand product names were offered, along with a comparison with similar products. Additionally, a YouTube video was also displayed. You can find the screenshots of our ChatGPT testing.
Alongside the shopping enhancements, OpenAI also expanded ChatGPT’s integration with WhatsApp. Now, users can send a WhatsApp message to 1-800-ChatGPT (+1-800-242-8478) to receive live updates, answers, and even real-time sports scores.
Another significant improvement involves citations. ChatGPT can now provide multiple citations within a single response, helping users verify information more easily and explore a wider range of sources. To make this even clearer, a new ‘highlight’ interface shows exactly which parts of the answer each citation supports.
Lastly, OpenAI has introduced trending and autocomplete search features to ChatGPT."You can search faster with trending searches and autocomplete suggestions," OpenAI noted. We tested these features, and both worked smoothly, making searching quicker and more intuitive.
With these updates, ChatGPT is evolving into a more dynamic tool for chatting, shopping, searching, and staying informed across platforms.