Instacart and OpenAI have expanded their partnership with a new in-ChatGPT grocery shopping experience that moves beyond recipe suggestions or meal planning. For the first time, users can go from meal ideas to a completed doorstep delivery in a single conversation — a milestone for agentic AI and the emerging category of agentic commerce.

The experience is simple: a user could ask, “Help me shop for apple pie ingredients on Instacart,” and ChatGPT will surface the Instacart app directly in the conversation. Once connected with an Instacart account, OpenAI’s models help select the right items from local retailers and assemble a cart that users can review and check out — all within ChatGPT.

Users can then check out and securely pay inside the Instacart app within ChatGPT — no tab switching required. After checkout, Instacart assigns a shopper to pick up and deliver the order through its platform. ChatGPT may also suggest the Instacart app automatically whenever users mention food, recipes, or meal ideas.

Instacart CTO Anirban Kundu called the integration a meaningful step toward making AI a practical household tool, noting that “together, we’re creating a seamless and secure way for people to turn simple conversations into real-world action—helping customers go from inspiration to a full cart delivered from the store to their door with ease.” Nick Turley, Head of ChatGPT, emphasized that the feature reflects OpenAI’s broader vision of AI that not only provides suggestions but also connects directly to helpful real-world services, “saving people time and effort in their everyday lives.”

The offering is built using the Agentic Commerce Protocol, OpenAI’s framework for enabling apps to perform real transactions. Instacart’s leadership position here signals how enterprises may begin integrating conversational AI with complex fulfillment networks, secure payments, and logistics operations.

Instacart’s work with OpenAI predates this launch; the company was an early contributor to OpenAI’s Operator research preview, providing feedback to help shape real-world agentic use cases. Today, Instacart uses OpenAI APIs, ChatGPT Enterprise, and an internal Codex-powered coding agent across its teams to accelerate product development and support personalized customer experiences — helping customers save time, find inspiration, and make confident food-related decisions through tailored recommendations.

This partnership update also fits into OpenAI’s broader enterprise ecosystem, which now includes companies such as Accenture, Walmart, Salesforce, PayPal, Intuit, Target, Thermo Fisher, BNY, Morgan Stanley, BBVA, and many more. More than 1 million business customers are now using OpenAI technologies, making it the fastest-growing business platform in history.

Q: What can users do inside the Instacart app in ChatGPT?
A: They can browse groceries, assemble a cart, and check out using Instant Checkout, all without leaving the chat experience.

Q: How does ChatGPT know when to suggest Instacart?
A: If a user mentions food, recipes, or meal planning, ChatGPT can proactively surface the Instacart app.

Q: What technology enables this integration?
A: The system relies on OpenAI’s frontier models and the Agentic Commerce Protocol, which connects AI actions to real-world services.

Q: How involved is Instacart in OpenAI’s broader ecosystem?
A: Instacart uses OpenAI APIs, ChatGPT Enterprise, and an internal Codex-powered agent, and was an early contributor to OpenAI’s Operator research preview.

The Instacart integration shows how quickly AI is moving from suggestion engines to action-taking systems that can complete real tasks on a user’s behalf. For consumers, this is one of the clearest examples yet of how agentic AI can streamline everyday routines — turning a simple question about dinner into a fully assembled grocery order without app switching or cognitive load. For enterprises, it reflects a broader shift: companies are beginning to link conversational AI directly to fulfillment networks, payments, and logistics, opening the door to new service models across retail, travel, healthcare, and home management.

As agentic commerce evolves, more interactions that once required multiple tabs, apps, and decisions may take place through a single conversation — giving people back time while connecting businesses more directly to customer intent.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.