The following was originally posted on LinkedIn by eBay Chief AI Officer Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov.
At eBay, we’re leveraging the latest advances in AI to redefine the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts. The evolution from LLMs to agentic systems is happening faster than most of us would have predicted just a year ago, and we believe agent-based interactions will play a major role in the future of ecommerce over the next few years and of the digital economy as a whole.
Today’s announcement of eBay’s collaboration with OpenAI marks an important step in our AI strategy. As one of the first companies collaborating with OpenAI on their research preview of AI agent, Operator, we are taking a step forward in shaping the future of agentic ecommerce in a way that benefits and protects our customers.
Our collaboration with OpenAI will introduce a new paradigm of discovery and shopping online. Operator acts as a virtual assistant, autonomously performing tasks across the internet, including online shopping, and directs users to eBay for unique inventory finds. We anticipate that through this collaboration, we will expand the reach of our sellers, giving more buyers exposure to eBay’s unique inventory.
This is just the beginning. As we continue to evolve our internal AI agent capabilities, and deepen our strategic partnerships, we’re learning how these technologies can best empower buyers to discover more of the things they love and enable sellers to grow their businesses successfully. As we continue to advance our AI strategy, stay tuned for more updates as we continue to lead the way in reinventing the future of ecommerce.