OpenAI’s Commerce Layer: Quiet Feature, Big Power Move

OpenAI just confirmed it will take a cut of product sales made directly inside ChatGPT. On the surface, it looks like a modest feature. In reality, it is a structural shift in how platforms monetize intent. Here is how:

Instead of pushing users to websites or relying on ad clicks, ChatGPT will host the entire transaction flow. The user stays in the conversation. The product appears because it fits. And OpenAI takes a cut.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Apple turned distribution into a tollbooth. Google turned search into an auction. Imagine if Google had not only taken your ad dollars but also demanded a percentage of every sale you made from that ad. That is the direction OpenAI is pointing toward. Discovery, recommendation, and transaction all happen in one place and OpenAI owns the frame.

OpenAI is doing something different but potentially more powerful. It is collapsing the entire discovery to purchase journey into one interface it controls. No links. No clicks. Just context, trust, and conversion. This is not just a new revenue model. It is a new kind of platform dominance and it will feel just like a conversation where the user clicks a button to say yes to buying, like Amazon's one click but even more natural.This is not just commerce, it is platform consolidation with a conversational mask.

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