ChatGPT Wallet lets OpenAI's agents pay for you, with a check on every purchase

• You add a card once, in a secure form, not in the chat. Your bank may ask you to verify it.
• You ask your dot to find something, like a sweater or a hotel. At checkout it shows you the merchant, the items, the total, the card and any recurring-payment terms.
• You approve with a biometric check, such as Face ID or a fingerprint. Every purchase needs one.
• The payment network then issues a payment token, a substitute card number, security code and expiry date. The merchant and the agent never see your real card details.
• Your card keeps its rewards and its protections for eligible disputes. Each approval leaves a record of what you authorized.

Who can use it. US ChatGPT Pro users aged 18 or older with a US billing address and an eligible US-issued American Express, Chase, Mastercard or Visa card. Chase cards need the primary cardholder. You need a dot set up first. Wallet doesn't work in Chat, Work or standalone Codex threads, and virtual cards aren't supported at launch.

The caveats.

• It won't work at every store. OpenAI says some sites may block agent purchases by accident, and stores' fraud systems may flag a legitimate agent purchase and decline or cancel it.
• "Ready to check out" means your approval is done. It doesn't confirm the merchant placed the order. Check for a merchant confirmation before you try again.
• Returns, cancellations and refunds go through the merchant. Declined or unrecognized charges go to your card issuer.
• If you agree to a recurring plan, the merchant can store the token and charge it again.

What's next. OpenAI says that over time users should be able to let the agent buy without a check each time, within limits they set, such as a spending cap, purchase categories or a time window. For stores, it published a Commerce Partner Playbook covering product feeds, letting ChatGPT agents through firewalls via Web Bot Auth, and working with payment and fraud providers. OpenAI names Adyen, Checkout.com, Stripe, Forter, Riskified, Sardine and Signifyd as partners on that work.

Our take. A biometric check on every purchase is the right default for a first version. The bigger change is the pre-approval mode OpenAI describes for later, when the agent can spend within limits without asking.

Disclosure: Not tested by MODEL. Not sponsored. No affiliate links.

MODEL Editors