Perplexity AI and PayPal team up for in-chat shopping

In a strategic push to differentiate itself in the increasingly crowded generative AI market, Perplexity is doubling down on AI-powered commerce, announcing a new partnership with PayPal that enables users to complete purchases directly within its chat interface.

Starting soon, U.S. users will be able to shop, book travel, and buy concert tickets entirely within Perplexity’s chat, using PayPal or Venmo for payment. This move integrates payments, shipping, and order tracking into a seamless one-click experience — all without leaving the chat window.

“Perplexity wants to be wherever users are asking questions and making decisions,” said Ryan Foutty, VP of Business at Perplexity. “Our vision for assistive AI is that everything just gets better and easier for people.”

From Search to Sale: The Rise of "Agentic Commerce"

This latest feature reflects a major shift in how AI platforms are approaching online shopping. While other AI leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have focused on real-time answers and generative content, Perplexity is betting on “agentic commerce” — where AI doesn’t just suggest options but completes purchases for users.

With this PayPal integration, Perplexity users can now:

• Discover products or services via chat
• Complete purchases without switching apps
• Enjoy automated payment, shipping, and invoicing handled by PayPal
• Authenticate easily with passkey login, minimizing checkout friction

Perplexity began testing shopping tools last year through integrations with sellers using platforms like Shopify, but this latest development marks a full step into end-to-end AI commerce — something ChatGPT has not yet introduced.

Payments Industry Rushes to Embed AI

The Perplexity-PayPal alliance comes at a time when payment giants are racing to build AI-native tools. In just the last few months:

• Visa launched Intelligent Commerce, allowing AI to browse and buy on behalf of users with tokenized payment methods.
• Mastercard introduced Agent Pay, leveraging Microsoft’s AI stack to facilitate seamless, agent-driven shopping experiences.
• PayPal rolled out a developer toolkit to help embed its payment infrastructure into AI tools — a move that now powers Perplexity’s in-chat checkout.

“Agentic commerce is not only the searching but making it all the way to the purchase,” said Srini Venkatesan, PayPal’s Chief Technology Officer. “We’ve been trying to get the agentic commerce piece right.”

According to PayPal, their system enables end-to-end transaction support — from payment authentication to merchant verification — ensuring trust on both sides of the marketplace. By auto-filling shipping and billing details, PayPal aims to eliminate the friction that often breaks online purchases.

Competitive Stakes in AI-Driven Shopping

This partnership is more than just a feature — it's a strategic move in the race for AI dominance. Perplexity is reportedly finalizing a $500 million funding round at a $14 billion valuation, signaling investor confidence despite recent downshifts in valuation targets.

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s AI Overviews are becoming staples of AI-enhanced search, offering real-time, contextual answers to billions of queries. Perplexity, with its unique blend of search, chat, and commerce, is positioning itself as a practical alternative — a true digital assistant that goes beyond conversation.

AI is Already Shaping Consumer Behavior

Consumer habits are already shifting in this direction. According to Salesforce, AI-driven chat use for customer service is up 42% year over year, and AI-influenced buying decisions rose 6% during the same period. Global sales influenced by AI surged to $229 billion during the 2023 holiday season, up from $199 billion the year before.

These figures suggest consumers are increasingly comfortable with — and even expect — AI to play a role in their purchasing decisions. With this latest move, Perplexity is betting that it can become the place where decisions happen and actions follow, all in one place.

Final Thought

By embedding PayPal’s robust checkout system into its AI interface, Perplexity isn’t just chasing the future of search — it’s building the future of shopping. If it can maintain trust, scale transactions, and stay ahead of rivals, this could mark a major leap forward in how we interact with AI and the web itself.