OpenAI
“Can OpenAI transform ChatGPT from an AI model subscription service into the financial and commercial infrastructure layer for agentic AI—owning the payment, identity, and checkout stack through which AI agents transact on behalf of users?”
Founded in 2015 as a nonprofit AI safety research lab, OpenAI restructured into a capped-profit model in 2019 to raise capital at scale. The 2022 launch of ChatGPT transformed the company from a research institution into a consumer and enterprise AI platform generating billions in revenue. By 2026 OpenAI is building embedded commerce infrastructure—the Agentic Commerce Protocol and Delegated Payment Spec—positioning ChatGPT as a checkout and payment orchestration layer, a meaningful expansion beyond AI model licensing into financial infrastructure.