OpenAI Group PBC today announced the launch of ChatGPT Shopping Research, a new tool designed to help users quickly evaluate products, compare options and make more confident purchasing decisions.

The feature is available to all logged-in ChatGPT users, including free users, and the company is offering “nearly unlimited usage” during the holiday period.

Shopping Research, as its name suggests, is built to function as a personalized product adviser. The new feature starts by asking clarifying questions about a user’s needs, including budget, preferences, features and whom the product is for, rather than relying on broad keyword searches, before generating a tailored buyer’s guide. The system synthesizes up-to-date details across the web, including specifications, reviews, pricing and availability, to produce structured recommendations and clear tradeoff summaries.

Under the hood, Shopping Research uses a reinforcement-trained mini variant of GPT-5 that has been tuned specifically for evaluating retail products, reading trusted sources and improving its ability to cite information accurately. The guide format it produces is designed to highlight top candidates, compare them side-by-side and explain why certain products fit the user’s criteria better than others.

The model being used is also designed to be an interactive experience that can update and refine its research in real time to incorporate new constraints and adjust to feedback on user product preferences. The result, according to OpenAI, is a response that feels both well-researched and personalized.

OpenAI does note that Shopping Research is still an emerging capability and that details such as pricing, stock levels and specific features may occasionally be outdated or incomplete. The company advises users to verify final information on retailer websites before purchasing.

To support merchants, OpenAI is also introducing an allow-listing process. Retailers that want to ensure their product data is displayed properly in the model’s research flow can apply for inclusion in Shopping Research to give the platform a clearer path to structured, accurate information.

OpenAI frames Shopping Research as part of a broader vision to make conversational assistants more useful for real-world decision-making.

“Our goal is to help simplify finding the right products,” the company said at the end of the announcement. “ChatGPT will continue to get better at understanding your preferences, covering more categories and offering more intuitive ways to compare and discover products.”

Image: OpenAI