Synchrony, a major consumer finance company behind store-branded credit cards, is working with OpenAI to bring its cards into ChatGPT. The company wants customers to eventually use Synchrony-issued cards when shopping through ChatGPT. That could include cards connected to major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart.
The move comes as OpenAI pushes ChatGPT beyond answering questions and toward becoming an AI-powered shopping assistant. The company is building tools that allow users to discover products and complete purchases without leaving the ChatGPT experience for Synchrony, the opportunity is to put its financial products directly into that emerging shopping journey.
Synchrony provides private-label credit cards, consumer financing and payment solutions for retailers. Its cards are issued through partnerships with retailers and brands, allowing customers to access financing and other payment options when they shop.
The proposed ChatGPT integration would add another place where those financial products could be used instead of finding a product in ChatGPT and then leaving the conversation to complete the transaction elsewhere, customers could eventually be able to select an eligible Synchrony card during checkout that would make the credit card part of the AI shopping process itself.
The development is part of a broader shift in online commerce. Traditional online shopping often starts with a search engine or retailer website before moving through product pages and checkout AI shopping could compress those steps into a single conversation.
A customer could ask ChatGPT to find a product, compare several options, recommend the best one and eventually complete the purchase. The AI would move from helping with the decision to taking a more active role in the transaction.
OpenAI has already been building toward that model through its shopping and checkout tools.
Walmart has also partnered with OpenAI to bring shopping into ChatGPT, allowing customers to discover products and connect the experience with Walmart’s account, loyalty and payment systems.
Synchrony’s involvement would add another piece to that ecosystem: consumer financing.
However, the integration is not ready for customers yet.
Synchrony executives have indicated that bringing general-purpose cards into these AI shopping experiences could take roughly six to 12 months. Retailer-specific cards could take longer because each retailer would need to be integrated separately.
That means Amazon and Walmart cardholders should not expect to suddenly see their Synchrony cards available as ChatGPT payment methods There is also a bigger question that Synchrony and OpenAI still need to answer: how the economics of AI-driven transactions will work.
When an AI assistant helps complete a purchase, several companies can potentially have a role in the transaction. The retailer sells the product, the card issuer provides the financing and the AI platform controls the shopping interface Synchrony and OpenAI therefore still need to determine how transaction fees and other commercial arrangements would work.
Synchrony is also looking beyond OpenAI.The company has discussed similar possibilities with Anthropic and Google, suggesting that it does not view ChatGPT as the only potential gateway to AI-powered commerce.
That could become increasingly important as AI companies compete to make their assistants more useful for everyday tasks for Synchrony, the opportunity is not simply about putting a credit card into another digital wallet. It is about making sure its financial products remain part of the purchasing process as consumers begin relying on AI to shop.
If the model works, the future of online shopping could look very different a customer may eventually ask an AI assistant to find a product, compare prices, choose an option, apply available financing and complete the purchase in one conversation Synchrony’s push shows that the companies providing the money behind those purchases also want a place inside that emerging AI-driven checkout.
