As far as hubristic announcements go, Walmart’s was a beauty. In October, the US giant excitedly announced it was “ushering in the next generation of retail”. The supermarket had just penned a deal with OpenAI to allow customers to not only plan meals, review recommendations, find inspiration and compare products, but also “simply chat and buy” within a ChatGPT AI conversation.

“For many years now, e-commerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses. That is about to change,” said Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart Inc, at the time.

Enabling the change was ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout feature, launched a month prior. It allowed users to make their purchase – actually complete the transaction – right there within the chat.