1229 ET - ChatGPT developer OpenAI's selection of Shopify as its debut ecommerce advertising partner eases fears of AI disintermediation, says TD Cowen's John Shao. In a report, the analyst notes a prevalent theme weighing on ecommerce sentiment this year has been of fears of cutting out the middleman. This was made worse for Shopify after META announced its personal AI assistants. However, Shao sees OpenAI's new ad integration as evidence that "Shopify may be becoming more deeply embedded in agentic commerce rather than being bypassed by it." Under the partnership, merchants can manage ChatGPT advertising campaigns directly through the Shopify platform. This sets up Shopify to benefit from "the infrastructure layer underpinning AI-driven commerce rather than being at risk of displacement."