A ChatGPT Wallet purchase awaiting approval, from OpenAI’s launch video. Screenshot: OpenAI
OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Wallet, which lets its dots AI agents buy things for users without seeing their card details. The company built it with American Express, Mastercard and Visa, it said in its announcement on Friday.
Wallet starts in the US, for ChatGPT Pro subscribers aged 18 and over with eligible US-issued cards. OpenAI said it is starting small to learn from real-world use.
Users add a card once. Before each purchase, they review the items, the total and the card. They then approve it with a check such as Face ID or a fingerprint scan. Each approval creates a record of what the user allowed the agent to buy.
After approval, the payment network issues a payment token. It stands in for the real card, with its own card number, security code and expiry date. The business and the agent never see the actual card details, OpenAI said.
Users keep their card’s rewards and its protections for eligible disputes, such as a defective item. Businesses keep control of pricing, delivery, returns and customer service.
“Our goal here is to really focus on merchants and our network partners and start building out a really great foundation that’s safe and easy to use,” Chaya Nayak, who leads product for monetization and payments at OpenAI, told CNBC’s Ashley Capoot .
OpenAI is not taking a cut of purchases for now, CNBC reported. Over time, OpenAI expects users to hand purchases to their agent entirely. They would set limits on spending, categories or time periods.
OpenAI said some websites may block purchases by agents without meaning to. Risk systems can also flag legitimate agent purchases as fraud, which leads to declines or cancellations.
To help, it published a playbook for businesses. It covers letting ChatGPT agents through firewalls, uploading product feeds and setting up business profiles in ChatGPT . OpenAI is also working with fraud firms Forter, Riskified, Sardine and Signifyd, and with payment providers Adyen, Checkout.com and Stripe.
United Airlines said on Wednesday it will block agents from booking tickets. Amazon stops them buying on its platform, CNBC reported. Schwab and JPMorgan are blocking AI agents from moving customer money.
OpenAI tried checkout in ChatGPT before. It launched an Instant Checkout feature in autumn 2025 and quickly moved away from it, CNBC reported. Visa tested 22 models as shoppers this month. They failed 42.8% of the time.
Luke Gebb, who heads global innovation at American Express, said the small launch is deliberate.
“It just makes sense to watch it, start it in a contained environment, and then keep rolling from there,” Gebb told CNBC.
Walmart lets agents shop through agent profiles with their own spending limits.
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