OpenAI's ChatGPT Wallet Lets Dots Agents Buy Things, With a Check Each Time

OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Wallet, a payment feature that lets the company's Dots agents buy items on a user's behalf, according to The Verge. The company says the wallet keeps a user's real card details away from those agents.

Once a card is linked, a Dots agent can act on a user's request and make a purchase. Before any checkout goes through, the agent pauses and asks the user to confirm, according to The Verge.

OpenAI's support page states that each transaction needs a security check using biometric verification, such as a face scan or a fingerprint. That step comes after the user has looked over what the agent intends to buy.

When the user approves the order, OpenAI says the system behaves much like tap to pay, Apple Pay or Google Wallet. The card number is replaced with a payment token, so neither the Dots agent nor the merchant receives the underlying card information.

OpenAI has also described a longer-term direction for the feature. It says it expects users will eventually hand off buying decisions to an agent by defining rules, for example caps on spending, kinds of products or windows of time, and approving those purchases in advance.

The wallet may run into obstacles at some stores. Certain retailers limit or outright bar AI agents, and Amazon blocked Meta's Muse agents earlier this year, The Verge reported.

OpenAI says two things must happen for agents to use the wallet. In its view, sites have to avoid blocking agents by mistake, and the payment and fraud systems behind them have to treat agent-initiated orders as valid.

The feature arrives as AI assistants move from answering questions toward carrying out tasks that involve money. OpenAI has not said which retailers or regions will support ChatGPT Wallet first.