ChatGPT Wallet Lets AI Agents Pay for Purchases Without Exposing Your Card Number

ChatGPT Wallet AI agent payments, Digi Mart USA News: OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Wallet, a feature that allows its dot AI agents to pay for products online or book a hotel on a user’s behalf. The dots are always-on agents with their own cloud computer that OpenAI introduced in late September.

OpenAI built the feature with American Express, Mastercard and Visa.

According to the ChatGPT release notes dated November 13, the feature is rolling out gradually to Pro subscribers aged 18 or older who live in the US and have a US billing address. OpenAI has not announced plans for other countries.

The feature works only in conversations with a dot and only with credit cards, as debit cards are not supported.

Users add a card once through a secure form rather than in the chat. Before each purchase, the dot shows the merchant, items, total and selected card.

Nothing happens until the user approves with Face ID, Touch ID or a fingerprint. The card network then issues a payment token with its own number, security code and expiration date.

OpenAI says neither the merchant nor the agent receives the real card number, and card rewards and protections for eligible disputes still apply.

Approving a purchase does not by itself place the order. OpenAI says the “Ready to check out” status only means the user’s approval is complete.

Only the merchant’s confirmation shows that an order went through, and buying again after an unclear result could lead to a duplicate order. Recurring payments need more attention: if a user agrees to a subscription in the approval dialog, the merchant may store the token and charge it again later.

Such charges can only be canceled with the merchant, and removing a card from Wallet only stops new agent payments, while existing orders and stored Wallet data remain.

Merchants can still block or decline purchases made by agents, and many sites already keep AI agents out, as Amazon and several US banks showed in October. OpenAI has published a playbook for merchants explaining how to let signed agent requests through and how to adjust fraud filters.

OpenAI says users should later be able to set spending limits, categories or time frames and pre-approve purchases, but has not said when that will happen.