According to AIbase, Microsoft and payment giant Stripe have announced a deep collaboration, officially launching the Copilot Checkout feature, aiming to transform AI assistants from single consultation tools into closed-loop shopping terminals. With this technology, US users will soon be able to place orders directly for products in Excel, Edge browser, or Copilot chat interface, achieving a seamless "conversation-to-order" experience.
This feature is based on the Stripe platform and the "Agentic Commerce Protocol". This protocol, an open standard jointly developed by OpenAI and Stripe, was previously applied in the instant checkout function of ChatGPT. The initial supported brands of Copilot Checkout include the handmade e-commerce platform Etsy, as well as well-known retailers Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Ashley Furniture. In addition, Microsoft has integrated deeply with Shopify, allowing millions of merchants to automatically join this AI shopping ecosystem.
Globally, a battle over the "AI payment protocol" standard has already begun:
Microsoft/OpenAI camp: Uses the Agentic Commerce Protocol driven by Stripe, and collaborates with PayPal to support a wide range of credit card payments and electronic wallet functions.
Google camp: Is developing a competing standard called "Agent Payment Protocol" (AP2). This protocol has received support from more than 60 companies, including Mastercard, PayPal, Coinbase, and Adobe, covering not only traditional currencies but also stablecoins and other cryptocurrency payments.
OpenAI has also launched a specialized "product research agent," positioning the chatbot as a high-intent shopping channel. As major players enter the market, AI assistants are evolving from information retrieval tools into traffic entry points that extract commissions. For consumers, in the future, it may truly be possible to order a pizza or purchase desired office supplies with just a few words while working on a spreadsheet.
