What Happened: OpenAI has unveiled Shopping Research, a new feature in ChatGPT designed to act as a personalized product-finding assistant.

• Instead of browsing dozens of websites, users can now describe what they’re looking for – whether it’s the quietest cordless vacuum, a bike comparison, or a gift for a four-year-old – and ChatGPT will create a detailed, tailored buyer’s guide.
• The feature is rolling out starting today on mobile and web for all logged-in users across Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans. To support holiday shopping, OpenAI is offering nearly unlimited usage of Shopping Research for all plans throughout the season.
• The system works by asking clarifying questions, scanning the web for up-to-date product details, checking reliable sources, and using ChatGPT Memory (if enabled) to personalize recommendations.

Unsplash

Why Is This Important: Hundreds of millions of ChatGPT users already rely on the tool to compare products, understand features, and navigate a crowded marketplace.

• But until now, ChatGPT responses were limited by how quickly it could pull information and how much depth the user requested.
• Shopping Research introduces structured, multi-step product evaluation – a deeper form of guidance traditionally requiring manual research across dozens of tabs.
• It performs especially well for categories with complex specs and trade-offs, like electronics, appliances, beauty products, fitness gear, and home essentials.
• This also marks one of the first major applications of GPT-5 mini, trained specifically for shopping tasks using reinforcement learning, optimized to read product pages, cite sources, and synthesize details across multiple sites.

Unsplash

Why Should I Care: If you’ve ever spent hours comparing products, reading reviews, checking specs, and making lists, this feature dramatically reduces the effort.

• You simply describe what you need, answer a few clarifying questions, and ChatGPT returns a personalized, up-to-date buyer’s guide with recommendations, differences, trade-offs, pricing, and availability.
• As you interact with suggestions – using prompts like “More like this” or “Not interested” – the research adapts in real time. And because user chats are not shared with retailers, the recommendations remain organic and unbiased.
• Whether you’re holiday shopping, comparing gadgets, or replacing home appliances, Shopping Research offers a curated experience that saves time and cuts down on choice overload.

What’s Next: OpenAI plans to expand Shopping Research to more product categories and improve personalization as ChatGPT learns user preferences.

• The feature will also be integrated more deeply into ChatGPT Pulse for Pro users, potentially surfacing proactive recommendations – like accessories for something you recently discussed.
• Future updates will enable direct purchases inside ChatGPT through participating merchants using Instant Checkout.
• As OpenAI refines local citations and source accuracy, Shopping Research could evolve into one of the most comprehensive AI-powered shopping assistants on the market.
• OpenAI says this is “just the start” of redefining how people discover and compare products online.