Officially entering the e-commerce field, PayPal becomes the first payment wallet for ChatGPT

PayPal and OpenAI have reached a milestone cooperation, embedding its digital wallet into ChatGPT, marking the payment giant's official entry into the AI-driven e-commerce new field.

According to a joint statement released by both parties, starting next year, ChatGPT, which has hundreds of millions of users, will integrate a complete payment wallet for the first time. When users search for and discover products through this leading generative AI tool, PayPal will provide the underlying payment technology to help them directly convert their search intent into actual purchases.

This news greatly boosted investor confidence, driving PayPal's stock price to soar 14% in pre-market trading, reversing nearly an 18% decline this year.

If the increase continues, this will be the largest intraday gain on record since the stock began trading in July 2015.

This cooperation is a key step for OpenAI to expand into the e-commerce field. Previously, the AI giant announced partnerships with Shopify, Etsy, and Walmart, allowing its users to discover products from these platforms through ChatGPT. In addition to becoming the first payment partner, PayPal will also leverage OpenAI's enterprise-level AI products to accelerate its internal product development cycle.

Highlighting Security and Convenience, Building a Two-Way Trust Network

According to the agreement, PayPal will not just provide a payment button. The company will offer comprehensive backend infrastructure support for transactions within ChatGPT by adopting the "Agentic Commerce Protocol" (ACP). This means PayPal will be responsible for handling merchant routing, payment verification, and transaction coordination globally, without merchants needing to integrate separately with OpenAI.

PayPal CEO Alex Chriss emphasized that PayPal's advantage lies in its vast network of verified users and merchants. He stated:

"This is not just about making transactions happen; more importantly, it is a combination of the largest trusted merchant network verified by PayPal and the largest verified consumer wallet globally."

When shopping within ChatGPT, users can choose to pay using the bank account, credit card, or balance linked to their PayPal wallet. At the same time, they will enjoy a range of post-purchase services provided by PayPal, such as buyer and seller protection, package tracking, and dispute resolution, ensuring the security and reliability of transactions." In addition, as part of the collaboration, PayPal will also apply OpenAI's technology more broadly within the company. The company will deploy ChatGPT Enterprise for its 24,000 employees and integrate Codex tools for engineers to accelerate product development cycles and improve customer experience.

AI Opens a New Paradigm for Shopping, PayPal Seizes Payment Entry

This collaboration is seen as the beginning of a new shopping model driven by "agentic AI." In this model, the role of AI is similar to that of a human personal shopping assistant. According to the official statement, among OpenAI's over 700 million users weekly, hundreds of millions have used ChatGPT to search for products.

Starting in 2026, PayPal will introduce product information from millions of small and medium-sized enterprises and global brands on its platform, covering categories such as clothing, beauty, and electronics, into ChatGPT, allowing users to complete discovery and purchase directly in conversation. Alex Chriss stated:

"It's hard to imagine that agentic commerce won't become an important part of the future."

For PayPal, this deal is part of its broader AI strategy. Recently, the company announced similar collaborations with Google and another AI company, Perplexity, aiming to position itself favorably in the wave of AI technology reshaping the business landscape.

Strong Performance Exceeds Expectations Combined with AI Benefits, Stock Price Reverses Year-to-Date Decline

While announcing the significant positive news of its collaboration with OpenAI, PayPal also released a strong third-quarter financial report and an optimistic full-year outlook, providing solid fundamental support for the stock price surge.

The financial report shows that PayPal has raised its full-year adjusted earnings per share forecast to $5.35-$5.39, higher than the previous forecast and market estimate of $5.25. The company's third-quarter net revenue reached $8.42 billion, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.34 and adjusted free cash flow of $2.3 billion, all exceeding market expectations.

However, the financial report also revealed growth challenges faced by the company. The payment transaction volume in the third quarter decreased by 4.5% year-on-year to 6.33 billion transactions, below market expectations. The number of active user accounts grew by 1.4% year-on-year to 440 million, showing a slowdown in growth. Against this backdrop, the collaboration with OpenAI is seen as a key strategic move for PayPal to break through growth bottlenecks and inject new vitality into its core payment business.

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