OpenAI has rolled out shopping research in ChatGPT to streamline how users compare and choose products.

The feature lets users describe what they need and then asks clarifying questions before pulling information from reliable online sources to produce a personalised buyer guide within minutes.

Shopping research is starting to appear on mobile and web for logged-in users on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans.

OpenAI said usage will be nearly unlimited through the holiday period.

The tool is designed for more involved buying decisions where users want to weigh specifications, tradeoffs or budget limits.

It checks current details such as price and availability, reviews information from reputable retail sites and brings back options that can be refined through user feedback.

Categories that benefit from deeper research include electronics, beauty, home and garden, kitchen and appliances, and sports and outdoor products.

Straightforward queries such as confirming a price or feature will continue to be answered through a standard ChatGPT response.

For more detailed comparisons, shopping research conducts wider checks before presenting a summary of suitable options along with key differences and tradeoffs.

Users can click through to retailer sites if they want to purchase, and OpenAI plans to support direct transactions within ChatGPT for merchants that adopt Instant Checkout.

The feature is also available through ChatGPT Pulse for Pro users.

When relevant, Pulse may surface buyer guides based on earlier conversations, such as suggesting accessories if a user has recently discussed e-bikes.

Shopping research uses a version of GPT 5 mini that has been trained with reinforcement learning for shopping tasks.

OpenAI said the model reads from trusted sites, cites sources and adapts results based on user preferences.

The company also said chats are not shared with retailers and results come only from publicly available retail information, while avoiding low-quality or spammy sources.

OpenAI noted that the model can still make errors on details such as pricing or stock levels and encouraged users to confirm information on merchant sites.

The company described the rollout as an early step toward improving how people identify and compare products through ChatGPT.

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