ChatGPT's new 'shopping research' tool will help you find products
What's the story
OpenAI has introduced a new ChatGPT feature designed to assist users with shopping, just in time for the holiday season. The "shopping research" tool functions like an expert personal shopper, helping users locate desired products. It searches the web and compiles a guide based on product details, similar to the Deep Research feature.
Tool functionality
A personalized shopping assistant
The shopping research tool is designed to provide a personalized shopping experience in minutes, based on your specific criteria and needs. It can help you find products that meet specific criteria, such as a smartphone with over 18 hours of battery life under $1,500. The tool can also find lookalikes of products, compare different items with a detailed trade-off list tailored to your needs, discover product deals, and assist in gift selection.
AI training
GPT-5-mini powers shopping research tool
The shopping research tool is powered by a version of GPT-5-mini, which was specifically trained for shopping tasks. OpenAI has said that the model was trained to "read trusted sites, cite reliable sources, and synthesize information across many sources," as well as refine its prompts in real-time. Despite its capabilities, OpenAI has acknowledged that it sometimes makes mistakes about product details like pricing and availability.
User experience
How to use the shopping research tool
All logged-in ChatGPT users, regardless of their plan, can use the shopping research tool. You can either ask a shopping question or select the "Shopping research" option from the menu in the text box. In your first prompt, describe what you want it to do for you. Then ChatGPT will ask questions relevant to your search like budget or important features.
Guide provision
Shopping research tool offers personalized buyer's guide
As it conducts the research, the shopping research tool displays sample products it has found. With each product, you can indicate if you're interested or not and why. After a few minutes, it will provide a personalized buyer's guide with top products, comparisons, and links to retailers' websites for purchase. In the future, OpenAI plans to integrate this feature into the Instant Checkout experience for direct purchases on the site.