PayPal partners with OpenAI to enable ChatGPT Instant Checkout via ACP
Users can pay inside ChatGPT using PayPal wallets, cards, and bank accounts
Merchants discoverable without special integrations; PayPal offers payments API and analytics
PayPal announced a partnership with OpenAI that will let ChatGPT users complete purchases using their PayPal wallets via Instant Checkout, the AI company’s in-chat purchasing feature. The deal makes PayPal an early payments partner for “agentic commerce”, where AI agents surface products and finish transactions on behalf of users.
PayPal said Tuesday it will adopt the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) and integrate with OpenAI’s Instant Checkout so users can pay for purchases directly inside ChatGPT, with merchant discovery and payments set to begin in 2026.
How it will Work
Under the arrangement PayPal will adopt the open-source Agentic Commerce Protocol so merchants using PayPal can be discoverable inside ChatGPT.
Customers will be able to fund purchases from linked bank accounts, cards or PayPal balances, while PayPal handles routing, payment validation and delegated card processing behind the scenes so merchants do not need to build special integrations.
PayPal said transactions completed in ChatGPT will carry buyer and seller protections, plus standard post-purchase services such as tracking and dispute resolution. The company will also provide a payments API for card processing within ChatGPT and offer merchants analytics and catalog services through an “agentic commerce” suite.
Timing & Merchant Categories
The rollout is due to start next year, with PayPal saying merchants using its products will initially be discoverable for categories including apparel, beauty, home improvement and electronics. The company said it will surface merchant catalogs in ChatGPT without requiring each seller to integrate directly with OpenAI.
News of the tie-up lifted investor sentiment: PayPal shares jumped in premarket trading after the announcement. The move builds on earlier deals that position PayPal to be a payments backbone for AI-enabled shopping, the company has also worked with Perplexity and entered a multiyear agentic commerce arrangement with Google this year.
Separately, PayPal said it will expand enterprise access to OpenAI products for employees and let engineers use OpenAI’s developer tools to accelerate internal workflows, part of a broader push to embed AI across its operations.
