ChatGPT’s new Shopping Research tool launched this week, but Amazon suddenly blocked its access. Here’s what it means for users.
Amazon has blocked ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot, from accessing its online marketplace, thereby preventing it from pulling live information from millions of product listings. The move affects ChatGPT’s recently introduced Shopping Research tool, which can no longer scan Amazon prices, reviews or ongoing deals while creating product suggestions or gift ideas. As a result, users will not receive Amazon-specific recommendations during the ongoing festive and sale period.
The development comes at a time when many users are searching for Black Friday and holiday discounts. Amazon’s annual sale remains a major shopping event, and the restriction limits ChatGPT from offering guidance based on one of the largest online catalogues.
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How ChatGPT’s Shopping Research Works
Shopping Research is OpenAI’s new feature that helps users find products based on their needs. Users can enter details such as budget, preferences and intended use. The tool gathers product information, reviews and availability from online platforms that allow access. It then compiles focused suggestions and offers links to relevant deals. OpenAI designed the feature to reduce the time users spend switching between multiple pages while comparing products. It is available to free and paid ChatGPT users worldwide, with extended usage during the holiday season.
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Why Amazon Restricted Access
The block was first noticed by Juozas Kaziukenas on LinkedIn, who highlighted changes in Amazon’s robots.txt file. The update prevents several OpenAI crawlers, including the “ChatGPT-User” agent used for live browsing and the “OAI-SearchBot” used for indexing, from visiting Amazon pages.
Further reports suggest that Amazon wants to protect its e-commerce data, including prices, product pages and reviews, from being used to power third-party AI systems. The company aims to prevent external tools from scraping its site and developing shopping models that could influence users to buy from other retailers. Amazon leadership has stated that conversations with third-party shopping tools are ongoing and that partnerships may still emerge. The company is also focused on strengthening its own AI service, Alexa+, which could be a factor in restricting competitors.
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What this Means for Users
ChatGPT’s shopping research will continue to gather product information from websites that allow crawlers to access them. However, Amazon listings will not be included. When users request Amazon-specific suggestions, ChatGPT may direct them to other platforms or ask them to confirm availability on Amazon manually.
For now, the feature remains useful for broad comparisons and personalised guidance, but Amazon’s catalogue will stay outside its reach.
The article originally appeared on Hindustan Times
