Sam Altman previewed an updated personalization page that now includes a dropdown menu with a range of personality types including “Cynic, Robot, Listener, and Nerd.” It also includes a Custom Instructions field where users can modify the chatbot's outputs with requests like “avoid em dashes so my professor doesn't know I'm cheating.”
Upon showcasing a screenshot of the new settings, Altman may have accidentally also revealed an Orders tab, which could be part of the company's ongoing agentic commerce efforts and/or partnership with Shopify.
Here's a quick recap of OpenAI's recent e-commerce moves:
- OpenAI released Operator, an agent that can perform tasks on the web such as shopping, filling out forms, and booking travel based on users' instructions.
- OpenAI introduced a new tool allowing retailers to create AI-powered shopping assistants in Shopify via the Storefront Managed Compute Platform and the OpenAI Responses API.
- The Financial Times reported that OpenAI was working on a way to take commission from sales that take place within ChatGPT.
- Rumors circulated in July that OpenAI was weeks away from launching its own browser. (Spoiler: It still hasn't.)
Personally I think that the best way to complement OpenAI's commerce efforts is to launch an e-mail and SMS inbox called InboxGPT. Check out my LinkedIn post to learn why.
In other ChatGPT news… OpenAI announced that it plans to implement a new age verification system to help place underage users into a more age-appropriate chatbot experience. To determine a user's age, it will use an age prediction system that attempts to guess how old they are based on how they've previously interacted with the service.
