(Reuters) -Walmart said on Tuesday it was partnering with OpenAI to enable customers and Sam's Club members to shop directly within ChatGPT, using the AI chatbot's Instant Checkout feature. Shares of the company rose 5% to $107.21 at market close following the announcement. The world's largest retailer is expanding its use of artificial intelligence as companies across sectors adopt the technology to simplify tasks and cut costs. Walmart has announced AI tools, including generative AI-powered 'Sparky,' which is available on its app to assist customers with product suggestions or summarizing product reviews, among other options. The company's growing investment in AI is also aimed at closing the gap with online behemoth Amazon, which had a head start with its chatbot, Rufus, a Gen AI-powered shopping assistant that answers various shopping queries. Walmart's tie-up with the ChatGPT-maker follows a similar partnership OpenAI announced last month with Etsy and Shopify. About 15% of total referral traffic for Walmart in September was from ChatGPT, up from 9.5% in August, data from SimilarWeb showed. However, referrals are only a minor source of traffic and ChatGPT referrals accounted for less than 1% of total web traffic for Walmart, the research firm said. (Reporting by Sanskriti Shekhar and Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shreya Biswas)
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