Perplexity Launches Free AI Shopping Tool to Compete with OpenAI During Holiday Season
Summary
Perplexity launches a free AI shopping tool for U.S. users next week, enabling direct purchases from search results through partnerships with over 5,000 merchants and PayPal payment processing, directly challenging OpenAI's similar feature in the race to dominate AI-powered e-commerce during the crucial holiday shopping season.
Key Points
- Perplexity launches a free agentic shopping product for U.S. users next week, allowing seamless purchases directly from search results through partnerships with over 5,000 merchants
- The AI startup partners with PayPal to handle transactions, with PayPal merchants serving as merchants of record and providing buyer protection policies for purchases made through Perplexity
- This move competes directly with OpenAI's similar Instant Checkout feature launched in September, as both companies race to capture the growing AI-powered e-commerce market during holiday shopping season