Synchrony, OpenAI bring financing to ChatGPT with 100% AI adoption

Synchrony is bringing credit-card financing and rewards into ChatGPT, betting that AI-native checkout will reshape how its tens of millions of consumers pay, as nearly 100 percent of its professional workforce already uses AI tools.

"AI is creating an opportunity to reimagine the entire commerce experience — from how customers discover products to how they pay, earn rewards, and build loyalty," Kaylin Voss, vice president of Americas and Industries at OpenAI, said.

Synchrony will deploy OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna models across its operations through ChatGPT Work, Codex and AWS Bedrock. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company has launched a ChatGPT plugin, now in the plugin directory, that lets consumers browse promotional financing, deals and everyday value from participating partners in a conversational format. The plugin extends Synchrony Marketplace offers into ChatGPT, expanding discoverability for the card issuer that counts Amazon and Walmart among its retail partners.

The collaboration makes Synchrony one of the first consumer lenders to sell financing inside a major AI assistant, a channel that could grow as shoppers shift product discovery and checkout to chatbots. Synchrony, which serves hundreds of thousands of partner locations, is betting the move keeps its products central to a payments market increasingly shaped by AI agents.

What the plugin does

The plugin lets ChatGPT users search Synchrony Marketplace for savings and promotional financing without leaving the chat window. Synchrony said the integration gives businesses a new way to drive conversion and engage consumers, though it did not disclose transaction volume or take-rate terms for the plugin. The marketplace spans categories from home improvement to health and wellness, and the plugin surfaces participating partners' offers in a conversational format rather than a traditional storefront.

Enterprise adoption

Beyond the consumer-facing plugin, Synchrony is deploying OpenAI's frontier models across its own operations. Nearly 100 percent of its professional workforce has used AI tools such as ChatGPT since 2024, and employees will gain access to ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Work to integrate AI into daily workflows. Ninety percent of employees expressed confidence in Synchrony's commitment to using AI fairly, ethically and responsibly, the company said.

Competitive stakes

Synchrony's move comes as payment networks and lenders race to embed themselves in AI shopping assistants. The company, which also operates the CareCredit health-and-wellness financing brand, recently struck a partnership with Stripe to expand access for providers. By selling financing inside ChatGPT, Synchrony is trying to ensure its products remain the default payment option as consumers delegate more purchase decisions to AI agents. OpenAI, for its part, gains a financial-services anchor as it pushes ChatGPT deeper into commerce, a market where rivals such as Google's Gemini and Amazon's Alexa are also courting retail partners.

Investor angle

Synchrony shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under SYF. The company has not disclosed expected revenue or cost savings from the OpenAI collaboration, and the financial impact will depend on how quickly consumers adopt AI-assisted checkout. Synchrony was ranked the No. 1 Best Company to Work For in the U.S. by Fortune magazine and Great Place to Work.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.