PayPal has struck a deal with OpenAI to embed its digital wallet into ChatGPT, allowing users to pay for items directly through the AI platform.

Following the announcement, PayPal’s shares jumped as much as 13 per cent, according to CNBC.

Beginning next year, ChatGPT will integrate with PayPal, allowing users to buy items through the AI platform and enabling merchants to list and sell their products, CEO Alex Chriss said.

“We’ve got hundreds of millions of loyal PayPal wallet holders who now will be able to click the ‘Buy with PayPal button’ on ChatGPT and have a safe and secure checkout experience,” Chriss said in an interview.

The move positions PayPal as an early partner in OpenAI’s push to expand ChatGPT’s role in e-commerce. With more than 700 million weekly users, the AI platform aims to help shoppers find items much like a personal assistant would.

Last month, OpenAI announced that users could make purchases from Shopify and Etsy merchants, and two weeks ago it revealed a similar e-commerce partnership with Walmart.

“It’s a whole new paradigm for shopping,” Chriss said. “It’s hard to imagine that agentic commerce isn’t going to be a big part of the future.”

PayPal is aiming to become the payments backbone for the emerging era of AI-driven shopping, having recently struck deals with Google and AI company Perplexity.