From Search to Action! ChatGPT Agent signals the death of manual online shopping
The ChatGPT Agent operates a virtual computer, navigating real web pages, filling forms, checking calendars, and even sending you completed decks or shopping receipts.
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OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Agent, a major leap from passive chatbot to proactive digital assistant. CEO Sam Altman calls it OpenAI’s most significant shift yet “from assistant that answers to agent that acts.” The Agent operates a virtual computer, navigating real web pages, filling forms, checking calendars, and even sending you completed decks or shopping receipts.
So, now just tell ChatGPT what you want and it browses, compares, clicks and checks out.
Today we launched a new product called ChatGPT Agent.
— Sam Altman (@sama) July 17, 2025
Agent represents a new level of capability for AI systems and can accomplish some remarkable, complex tasks for you using its own computer. It combines the spirit of Deep Research and Operator, but is more powerful than that…
In demos, it handled an entire wedding checklist, from flight bookings to gift shopping. It can now manage detailed commands like “find running shoes under Rs 8,000, check size availability and order from the seller with fastest delivery” and even follow through with real actions.
While it’s still early and latency remains a concern (some tasks take up to 30 minutes), OpenAI’s Yash Kumar says that’s still faster than doing it yourself. With affiliate models in the pipeline, OpenAI could start monetising without showing ads, a subtle yet seismic challenge to Google’s product search and Amazon’s marketplace dominance.
The implications are massive. If consumers let AI shop on their behalf, it could reshape the customer journey entirely, pulling power away from search engines and e-commerce giants. Amazon is reportedly testing “guardrails” to prepare.
The Agent is still labeled “experimental,” and money moves require manual approvals, but it’s clear this is more than a feature. It’s a rethink of how we interact with the internet.
