Oh boy, here we go! 🎢 ChatGPT, that ever-so-chatty AI we’ve all grown fond of (or at least tolerate), is now trying its hand at e-commerce. And guess what? Not everyone’s throwing a party over it. Over on Reddit, there’s a thread hotter than a summer sidewalk, with users less than pleased about ChatGPT’s latest shopping antics. Picture this: you’re digging for deep economic analysis, and bam! You’re hit with a shopping list. Quite the curveball, huh? 🔥
The thread, which some genius named ‘Kjfitz’ dubbed “the enshittification has arrived” (shoutout to Cory Doctrow for that gem), nails the vibe. And honestly, can you blame the crowd? One poor soul asked about tariffs and got a rundown on toiletries instead. ChatGPT’s defense? A breezy, ‘Hey, check out our new shopping feature!’ complete with pics and reviews. Classic. 🤦♂️
But hold onto your hats! Even though OpenAI swears these recommendations are “generated organically, without paid advertisements”, the peanut gallery isn’t buying it. User ‘crystallin’ is betting on a pay-to-play model by summer, while ‘rosencranberry’ is cracking jokes about therapy sessions interrupted by insurance ads. 😂
For now, these shopping features are ad-free. But with ‘enshittification’ (yep, that’s the Macquarie Dictionary’s 2024 Word of the Year) looming large, the skepticism isn’t just paranoia. As Perplexity eyes similar moves, ChatGPT’s leap into shopping signals a big ol’ shift towards making money. OpenAI’s take? “We’ll continue to bring merchants along our journeys as we quickly learn and iterate.” Or, in plain English: Strap in, everyone. This rollercoaster’s only just left the station. 🚀
