Meta Platforms Inc. Is currently testing a shopping research feature within its artificial intelligence chatbot, directly positioning it as a competitor to similar capabilities offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to a report published today by Bloomberg News.
The recent feature aims to allow users to research products and potentially make purchases through conversational interactions with Meta AI. This move signals an escalation in the ongoing competition between major technology companies to integrate AI into e-commerce experiences. Meta’s testing of the shopping tool comes after launching a standalone AI app in April 2025, a clear effort to challenge ChatGPT’s dominance in the AI chatbot market, as reported by CNBC.
Meta AI, which became accessible to over 1 billion users by May 2025 through integration with WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and a dedicated app, currently offers free access. This contrasts with ChatGPT’s tiered pricing structure, which includes a free version with message limits, a $20 monthly “Plus” subscription for expanded capabilities, and a $200 monthly “Pro” plan for unlimited access, according to a comparative analysis by Lovable.dev.
The core technology powering Meta AI is Llama 4, announced in April 2025, which provides natively multimodal intelligence. Llama 4 includes Scout, featuring a 10 million token context window, and Maverick, offering 400 billion parameters for general-purpose performance. ChatGPT utilizes OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 mini (free), GPT-4o, o3, and o4-mini (paid) models.
Although both Meta AI and ChatGPT offer real-time web search and multimodal capabilities, key differences exist. ChatGPT currently allows for more robust image generation and offers deeper research capabilities, including five lightweight reports per month for free users. Meta AI excels in quick ideation and operates seamlessly within Meta’s existing suite of applications. ChatGPT also integrates more broadly with other applications through platforms like Zapier.
According to a report by Zapier published in July 2025, both AI chatbots are based on state-of-the-art large language models, but ChatGPT is generally considered more powerful. Though, the free access offered by Meta AI remains a significant differentiator. Both models are still susceptible to “hallucinations” and misinterpretations of prompts.
As of today, Meta has not announced a specific launch date for the shopping research feature, nor detailed how it will integrate with existing e-commerce platforms. The company has not responded to requests for comment regarding the scope of the testing or potential partnerships.
