Sam Altman’s feudal-lord era

Sam Altman has officially entered his 14th-century feudal lord era.
Sorry, my imagination is feral today...I should probably go outside.

Anywho,
As of January 26, 2026, If a purchase happens through ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout, 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝟰% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲.
On top of Shopify’s existing fees.

Meanwhile, 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 are (for now) running similar in-chat checkout flows without an extra platform fee.
Which is generous.
Or temporary.
Or the calm before everyone discovers they, too, own a toll booth.

So yes, the future is agentic commerce.
Shopping becomes a conversation, and the conversation has a cash register.

OpenAI even frames Instant Checkout as a protocol moment, built with Stripe, open standard vibes, and everyone holding hands in a circle of interoperability.
Lovely.

And then the 4% shows up in a tuxedo.

In my head, OpenAI and merchants are in couples therapy, and the therapist already looks tired.

Because that’s the real question. Not “is 4% fair.”

The real question is: 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗼𝘄𝗻?

And that’s where it gets real.

4% on completed purchases is basically affiliate math, except the affiliate is a polite chatbot instead of a guy running “Top 17 kitchen gadgets” blogs.

Worth it if it brings new buyers, painful if it just reroutes your own traffic and sends you the bill

keeping my eyes peeled

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Inspired by Roger Dunn's post on the same.