OpenAI’s Chief Economist Ronnie Chatterji joins Scot Wingo on the Retailgentic Podcast to unpack OpenAI's recent National Bureau of Economic Research working paper "How People Use ChatGPT".
From asking vs. doing to AI-powered shopping behavior, this deep dive reveals how generative AI is transforming the economy and how soon “agentic” commerce will redefine online retail.
This episode is more than a window into OpenAI, it’s a look at the data shaping how humans and agents will interact, shop, and make decisions in the years ahead. If you care about where AI is really headed, this one’s not just worth your time, it’s required listening.
Timestamps:
02:00 – Meet Ronnie Chatterji, OpenAI’s Chief Economist
06:00 – How the ChatGPT usage study began
10:30 – What surprised the team most
15:00 – Asking vs. Doing: the evolution of agentic behavior
19:00 – The viral “colored columns” chart and what it shows
22:00 – AI and the future of writing, learning, and work
26:00 – How Ronnie bought jeans with ChatGPT
28:00 – The 2.1% insight: early AI commerce signals
33:00 – Voice + vision = the next leap for agentic shopping
38:00 – The global view of AI adoption
42:00 – What’s next in OpenAI’s research
45:00 – Closing thoughts & how to follow Ronnie
👉 Connect with Ronnie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-ronnie-chatterji/
👉 Learn more about the paper we discuss: https://openai.com/index/how-people-are-using-chatgpt/
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