Key Takeaways
- Perplexity users in the U.S. will soon shop directly within its chat interface, thanks to a new partnership with PayPal.
- This means booking travel, buying products, and nabbing concert tickets without leaving the chat, using PayPal or Venmo for payments.
- PayPal will manage the entire transaction process, from payment to shipping, tracking, and customer support.
- The collaboration aims to give Perplexity an edge in the competitive AI landscape and make online tasks easier for users.
- This move is part of a larger trend where payment giants like Visa and Mastercard are also integrating AI into e-commerce.
Soon, U.S. consumers will find shopping even easier as Perplexity, the AI-powered search company, teams up with PayPal. This new feature will let you book trips, buy items, and even get concert tickets right inside Perplexity’s chat.
Making a purchase will be straightforward. You can pay instantly with PayPal or Venmo, and PayPal will take care of all the details, including processing the payment, shipping, tracking your order, and even handling invoices. The companies are aiming for a simple one-click checkout, leveraging PayPal’s passkey technology.
Perplexity sees this as a significant step in making AI more helpful in everyday decisions. “Our vision for assistive AI is that everything just gets better and easier for people,” said Ryan Foutty, Perplexity’s vice president of business, highlighting their goal to be present wherever users seek answers and make choices.
This development comes as Perplexity is reportedly finalizing a substantial funding round, according to CNBC, valuing the company at around $14 billion.
This isn’t Perplexity’s first venture into e-commerce. Last year, they introduced a shopping feature for their paid U.S. users, working with sellers on platforms like Shopify. However, allowing users to complete entire transactions within chat is a new development, one that even competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT haven’t fully rolled out.
The race to integrate AI into financial transactions is heating up. PayPal faces competition from other major players like Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard, all of whom are exploring AI’s potential in commerce.
In a flurry of announcements this past April, Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal each unveiled new tools to weave AI into online buying experiences. Visa launched “Intelligent Commerce,” a system allowing AI to select items and complete payments securely. They’re partnering with several AI firms, including Perplexity itself.
“Soon people will have AI agents browse, select, purchase and manage on their behalf,” commented Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Jack Forestell, emphasizing the need for trusted payment systems for these AI agents.
Mastercard also joined the fray in April with “Agent Pay,” which combines Microsoft’s AI technologies with Mastercard’s payment solutions. They aim to develop what they call “agentic commerce” and plan to expand these capabilities to other AI platforms.
Meanwhile, PayPal introduced its own developer toolkit to embed payment features into AI-driven shopping. These simultaneous moves signal a significant industry shift towards AI agents managing everything from finding products to paying for them.
PayPal’s technology chief, Srini Venkatesan, explained that their system connects directly with merchants, handling payments, shipping, and billing without users needing to re-enter details. He believes “agentic commerce,” where AI handles tasks from research to purchase, is the next frontier.
Venkatesan highlighted PayPal’s advantage in securely verifying both buyers and sellers. By authenticating users through their wallet and auto-filling information, PayPal aims to make the process smoother and build trust.
The appeal of AI in commerce is growing. Data from Salesforce, mentioned by CNBC, shows that the use of AI-driven chat for customer service surged 42% in the past year. While not as dramatic, AI chat also increasingly influenced buying decisions, up 6% over the same period.
Globally, sales influenced by AI reached an impressive $229 billion between November and December, a notable increase from $199 billion the previous year. This indicates a clear trend towards AI playing a larger role in how we shop.
Perplexity’s move with PayPal places it in a dynamic field where AI search tools like ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s AI Overviews are rapidly evolving, offering powerful real-time results and AI-enhanced answers to user queries.
