OpenAI launched ChatGPT Wallet on Thursday, a payment tool that lets its AI agents buy items for users with a card saved in the app. The feature is available at the start to ChatGPT Pro subscribers in the U.S., and OpenAI built it with American Express, Mastercard and Visa.

The move puts the company at the center of so-called agentic commerce — transactions completed by software agents rather than by a person clicking checkout. It also reframes what a payments role means for a platform that 1.2 billion people use each week, according to OpenAI's own figure.

What can users actually do with the wallet?

The mechanics are deliberately narrow at launch. Users add a card once, then authorize every transaction by verifying their identity — for example with Face ID or a fingerprint scan, the company said. After approval, the payment network provides a token that stands in for the card details, so neither the business nor the agent receives the actual card number.

The charge goes to the user's selected card, and users keep the card's rewards and protections for eligible disputes. OpenAI published wallet terms on Thursday requiring users to be at least 18, have a U.S. billing address and use a card issued by a U.S. financial institution.

For practitioners in payments and retail, the token structure matters: OpenAI has not built a closed payment rail. It has wrapped existing card infrastructure — Amex, Mastercard, Visa — in an agent-facing authorization layer.

Who carries the risk and the liability?

Under the wallet terms, the merchant remains the seller, and OpenAI is not a bank, card issuer, payment network, lender or merchant for wallet purchases. OpenAI does not hold purchase funds. Users must contact the merchant directly for refunds or order disputes.

That division of responsibility answers the question most finance executives ask first. OpenAI has positioned itself as the interface, not the financial institution — comparable to how a browser mediates a checkout without underwriting the sale.

Will OpenAI take a cut?

Not at launch. OpenAI said it is not collecting any share of transaction revenue. That stands in contrast to an earlier effort: the company retired a previous ChatGPT shopping feature in March that used commission fees and included a checkout cart.

The agents making these purchases are called dots, according to CNBC. Over time, OpenAI said it expects users to hand purchases fully to an agent by setting parameters such as spending limits, purchase categories or time periods.

"It's going to take time for the ecosystem to build the right infrastructure to be able to make this experience really amazing and seamless across all of their sites," Chaya Nayak, OpenAI's product lead for monetization and payments, told CNBC.

Why did OpenAI start so small?

Luke Gebb, executive vice president and global head of innovation at American Express, told CNBC the deliberately small launch is the correct way to confirm everything is functioning properly. A constrained rollout to Pro subscribers gives the three payment networks a controlled environment to test token handling, dispute flows and fraud signals before any wider release.

The company itself flagged the limits. OpenAI said agentic commerce is in its early days and that some sites may block purchases made through the wallet.

Which merchants are blocking agents?

Some already are. United Airlines said earlier this week it will not let agents book tickets. Amazon does not allow agents to make purchases on its marketplace, according to CNBC.

To win merchants over, OpenAI published a Commerce Partner Playbook with guidance for businesses on making product information available, allowing agent access and working with payment and risk providers. The playbook is the practical artifact for retail teams: it sets out what an agent-compatible storefront needs to expose.

OpenAI also introduced Businesses in ChatGPT in beta on Tuesday. The feature lets companies claim verified profiles and upload product feeds with pricing and availability — effectively a merchant-side supply layer to pair with the demand-side wallet.

What changes for payments and retail teams?

The launch creates a new integration decision for merchants. Blocking agents is one path, as United Airlines and Amazon have chosen; enabling them through the playbook is the other. The split will shape how much traffic the wallet can actually convert.

For card issuers, the design preserves the existing economics: charges land on the user's card, rewards stay with the cardholder, and dispute protections apply. For OpenAI, the wallet deepens engagement for Pro subscribers while deferring monetization — a bet that agent-driven purchasing becomes a default behavior before anyone charges for it.

The stakes are large by any measure of scale. OpenAI says 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week. If even a fraction of that base routes purchases through agents, the wallet becomes one of the most consequential checkout surfaces built in years — provided the ecosystem, as Nayak put it, builds the infrastructure to match.