Influencer app LTK takes a big step into AI shopping with a new chatbot

• Influencer app LTK is rolling out a new AI chatbot powered by its creators' content — and OpenAI.
• Users can get shopping advice from the bot, and discover relevant posts and creators to follow.
• Artificial intelligence is a major focus across the e-commerce industry, from Amazon to TikTok Shop.

AI is changing how we do just about everything — including shopping.

LTK, a social shopping platform that lets influencers earn a commission from products they promote, is gradually rolling out a new AI chatbot for its consumer app in the US starting this week. The feature surfaces relevant products or influencer content based on a user's conversation. LTK plans to make it available to all US users on Monday.

The tool, trained specifically on LTK content uploaded by creators, is powered by OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. It sometimes uses the open web to answer questions, but all results point back to LTK's content pool.

For instance, if someone is on the hunt for a new pair of running shoes for a coming marathon, they can prompt the LTK chatbot to discover creators who post content about running, see what brand of sneakers they recommend, or ask just to see posts with shoes that are green.

The bot remembers your conversation, helping to personalize your future chats.

"Two people can have the exact same starting message sent to the chatbot and will end up in totally different directions," said Nate Jones, a data scientist at LTK. "You can ask what's trending right now? What are pop culture events happening? And all of that will be serviced in web searches and also LTK searches."

Shopping has been getting an AI makeover for the past few years, especially as Big Tech companies push forward on chatbot assistants or agentic shopping tools. Amazon offers an AI chatbot known as Rufus. Meta said on its latest earnings call that it would explore agentic shopping tools. Google has already staked a claim in the space with its "AI mode" shopping experience. Social apps like TikTok and Pinterest are also pushing AI-powered product search in their content feeds.

"This chatbot allows us to really supercharge that discovery experience and go beyond just a static search, but really go into conversational discovery," Joelle Angel, an LTK product manager, told Business Insider.

In-app search is the second-most-used feature in the LTK app (the first being the feed of creators users follow), according to the company.

Like other products shared in the LTK app, creators earn a commission if LTK's AI chatbot serves up their recommendations.

"Creator commerce only works when three parties win: the creator, the brand, and the consumer," LTK president Amber Venz Box said in a statement. "That requires control, transparency, and proper attribution."

While LTK is baking affiliate payments into its chatbot, big players like ChatGPT or Claude do not. That could pose a financial challenge to creators and product reviewers who rely on referral commissions to make a living.

LTK, formerly known as RewardStyle, built its business on the influencer affiliate-marketing model. The company cultivated relationships with thousands of bloggers and social-media influencers, eventually launching its own consumer app to reach users directly.

Last year, the company introduced a set of new features to encourage creators to post more lifestyle content rather than just shoppable posts.

In 2026, the company is focused on courting brands for its marketing platform.