A remarkable evolution is happening in global digital finance and Nigeria’s startup community must pay close attention. ChatGPT, the world’s most famous conversational machine, is being integrated into the future of payments. When that architecture matures, those who power ChatGPT will, inevitably, power the ChatGPT Store, the next frontier of commerce in the digital age.
India just unveiled a glimpse of that future. Through a partnership between the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Razorpay, and OpenAI, a pilot program now enables AI-powered payments directly within ChatGPT. The initiative runs on India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a platform already processing over 20 billion transactions monthly. With this fusion, India has effectively taught AI to collect money through conversation where commerce meets cognition.
India’s National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), in partnership with fintech firm Razorpay and OpenAI, has launched a pilot program introducing AI-powered payments through ChatGPT, marking a new phase in the country’s digital finance evolution.
The initiative allows users to make purchases directly within ChatGPT using India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network — a system that already handles more than 20 billion transactions monthly.
This moment is not just about payment; it is about the redefinition of interfaces. In the same way web browsers unlocked the Internet and app stores unlocked smartphones, conversational platforms like ChatGPT will unlock a new marketplace of interactions. For Nigerian innovators, this is an early call: the companies that build AI-anchored experiences today will become the merchants of tomorrow’s digital empires. And any company – hello Flutterwave, Interswitch, Touch and Pay, etc – which wins the ChatGPT checkout will be in a solid position in Nigeria.
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OpenAI, NPCI, and Razorpay Partner to Launch AI-Driven UPI Payments on ChatGPT in India
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