OpenAI is once more testing out ways its conversational AI assistant, ChatGPT, can assist users with online shopping. The company unveiled two new shopping capabilities on Thursday with a global rollout: one that lets users virtually try on clothing and accessories, and another that introduces a favoriting feature for saving products of interest for later. These updates come as AI assistants increasingly probe consumer shopping scenarios. OpenAI had already been forced to abandon one of its earlier attempts in this area — an instant checkout feature that underperformed. More recently, agentic AI startup Instinct started pushing product recommendations to users, though some regarded the proactive suggestions as intrusive, feeling more like advertisements than genuinely helpful tips. According to OpenAI, the new shopping tools are built on the recently released ChatGPT Images 2.5 model, which the company says delivers more natural lighting and richer textures, adheres to editing instructions more dependably, and cuts down on image generation latency. The virtual try-on feature lets ChatGPT users upload a selfie or full-body photo to see how a piece of clothing or an accessory would look on them. This will show up as a new "try on" button within ChatGPT's shopping results. Users can also upload an image of an item — a web screenshot, for example — and ask ChatGPT to try it on their behalf. The second new feature, Favorites, allows users to save discovered products to a Library within the app so they can revisit them later. (The company notes these items will be stored alongside your try-on images.)

OpenAI says ChatGPT can assist with shopping in other ways as well. For example, you could describe a style you want to experiment with, then ask it to shop for the pieces needed to complete the look. Alternatively, you could upload photos of celebrities' outfits and ask it to locate the items they're wearing that are available to buy. That latter use case puts the assistant into territory that Pinterest and Google have long dominated as sources of fashion inspiration and discovery that translate into sales for online retailers. Still, whether ChatGPT becomes people's go-to for this kind of activity is uncertain — particularly since Google rolled out virtual try-on last year.