ChatGPT takes in-app purchases one step further: Synchrony joins hands with OpenAI to enable retailer-exclusive credit cards to be used for checkout directly in chat. Consumer finance company Synchrony recently announced a corporate partnership with OpenAI. Consumers will be able to use their "retailer-exclusive credit cards directly in ChatGPT"

ChatGPT takes in-app purchases one step further: Synchrony joins forces with OpenAI, allowing retailers’ exclusive credit cards to be used for checkout directly in chat. Consumer finance company Synchrony recently announced a corporate partnership with OpenAI, allowing consumers to use their “retailer exclusive credit cards” to purchase goods directly in ChatGPT. Synchrony is the exclusive credit card issuer for Amazon, Walmart, Lowe’s and other brands, and the partnership aims to integrate borrowing, rewards and loyalty programs into AI-native shopping and checkout experiences. Media analysis pointed out that this is the first important move by a U.S. consumer credit institution to try to introduce lending, payment and reward mechanisms directly into AI chatbots. For OpenAI, this helps expand ChatGPT from a conversational tool into a broader online business platform. "Agent commerce" has become a popular concept in the next stage of online shopping, but at present, after consumers discover products in AI agents, they are usually still directed to the brand's official website to complete the purchase. In order to change this situation, OpenAI has previously reached cooperation with companies such as Visa and Stripe to promote the completion of transactions directly within the chat interface. Maran Nalluswami, chief strategy officer at Synchrony, said: "The current situation is that transactions cannot be completed smoothly on service provider platforms like OpenAI. We want to ensure that if a transaction is to occur in this ecosystem, our credit card can be loaded to the correct location to ensure that the transaction is finally completed." However, the vision of "agency e-commerce" is still far from being truly realized. Nalluswami revealed that getting general-purpose credit cards onboard ChatGPT could take six to 12 months, or even longer. For exclusively branded credit cards that can only be used at specific retailers, it may take longer, as this will also require coordination with the relevant brand. Consumers are still wary of providing credit card information to AI or allowing AI agents to make purchases on their behalf. In addition, there are also questions about the fee allocation mechanism after completing transactions within ChatGPT. Nalluswami said the retailer, Synchrony and OpenAI need to negotiate the relevant business model. He also revealed that the company is also in talks with other AI platforms such as Claude and Gemini to embed its credit cards into these chatbots. In addition to the payments partnership, Synchrony will launch a ChatGPT plugin that will allow consumers to browse its marketplace