AI: ChatGPT can now make your purchases, with your agreement for each payment

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Wallet, a wallet allowing an AI agent to finalize a purchase with a Visa, Mastercard or American Express card. The innovation is not just about paying from ChatGPT. It creates an explicit boundary between what the AI ​​prepares and what the user authorizes.

Biometrics separate recommendation from payment

ChatGPT Wallet allows a user to register a card, then ask their agent to search for a product, prepare the cart and fill out the necessary information for payment. However, the AI ​​cannot validate the transaction alone in this first version.

Before each purchase, an approval request presents essential information. The route is based on several steps clearly separated:

• The agent searches for the requested product or service;
• He prepares the order with the merchant;
• The user checks the items, amount and selected card;
• Facial recognition or a fingerprint confirms agreement;
• A virtual card number is generated to finalize the payment.

The actual card details are not communicated to either the merchant or the agent. After approval, the payment network creates a temporary identifier including a number, an expiration date, and a substitute security code.

This tokenization reduces the consequences of interception of data used during payment. However, it does not protect against a bad AI decision or user error. THE ChatGPT Wallet conditions also remind us that AI systems can make mistakes and that every detail must be verified before validation.

OpenAI orchestrates the purchase without becoming a seller or a bank

The wallet does not transform OpenAI into a banking institution. The company does not create an account, extend credit or hold funds for payment. The user’s existing card remains debited by their usual issuer.

The merchant also remains the official seller. He maintains control of prices, stock, delivery, returns and after-sales service. In the event of a defective product or canceled order, the customer must first contact the store. For an unrecognized transaction, its main contact remains the issuing bank.

This sharing of responsibilities constitutes the true heart of the system. ChatGPT acts as an orchestration layer between the consumer, merchant and card networks, without replacing their contractual relationships.

Users keep the rewards attached to their card and the protections applicable to eligible disputes. “An agent making a purchase should reinforce, not circumvent, the trust built into payments”says Sherri Haymond, global head of digital marketing at Mastercard.

The service remains very limited at launch. It is gradually being offered to ChatGPT Pro subscribers who are at least 18 years old, reside in the United States and have an eligible American card. It works in conversations with “dots” and is not available in classic ChatGPT, Work or Codex conversations.

AI: the next step will move the border of consent

Currently, every payment requires biometric validation. OpenAI, however, plans to subsequently allow broader delegation, based on predefined limits: maximum amount, product categories or authorized period.

A user could, for example, allow their agent to automatically purchase supplies for a month, without confirming each order. Consent would then no longer relate to a specific transaction, but to a set of rules defined in advance.

This change would make purchasing smoother, but would make error handling more difficult. It would be necessary to determine whether the agent respected the user’s preferences, whether the merchant presented its offer correctly and whether the limits were sufficiently precise. Authorization logs would become essential for assigning responsibilities.

Merchants will also have to adapt their anti-fraud systems. Current tools are designed to detect bots and can block a legitimate agent using a remote browser. OpenAI works with Stripe, Adyen, Checkout.com and several fraud specialists so that these purchases are not automatically considered suspicious.

ChatGPT Wallet therefore does not yet replace the consumer. He moves his intervention to the last moment of the journey, when the purchase is ready to be sent. The major break will arrive when the user can delegate this last decision: the challenge will then no longer be just to secure the card, but to prove that the agent bought exactly what he had the right to buy.