Last week, OpenAI rolled out new features on ChatGPT, enabling the conversational artificial intelligence tool to make shopping recommendations. Interested to find out how it would handle the notoriously complex topic of sustainable fashion, I took it for a spin.
I started simple, sharing my size and location, and asking ChatGPT to recommend a white T-shirt. It quickly came back with follow-up questions: did I have any preferences in terms of fabric, fit, budget, purpose or neckline? I told ChatGPT I wanted the T-shirt to be as versatile as possible, but my main concern was sustainability. What would it recommend?
A pop-up informed me that I was using an updated version of ChatGPT, so there were two possible responses for me to choose between. Both made a number of recommendations, highlighting different facets of sustainability, so I could select a product based on my personal preferences and priorities. In the mix, there was an organic cotton T-shirt for £12 for the budget-conscious, one made in a renewable energy-powered factory for £18 for those with ‘carbon tunnel vision’, and a premium choice at £58 that ChatGPT told me “combines style with sustainability, using eco-friendly materials and transparent production processes” (although it didn’t provide any further information to back up these claims).
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Hoping to understand more about the selection criteria, I looked into the sources. In some cases, it drew information from brand websites. But in most cases, it leant on SEO-informed shopping listicles from consumer-facing magazines, which often earn affiliate commission or get products gifted in return for their recommendations. One of the referenced sources was a New York Post article about Swedish brand Asket, which prioritises transparency, but the resulting recommendation was for H&M Group-owned Arket.
I amended my search: could ChatGPT recommend the most sustainable white T-shirt available, based solely on certified sources, including brand sustainability reports, and could it use product-level data, not generic brand claims. I asked it to exclude sources using affiliate marketing and stated my preference for a regenerative organic cotton white T-shirt, which has no toxic synthetic dyes, from a brand that supports farmers directly and pays its garment workers a living wage.
The next product list was much shorter, but it was still leaning on me to make the final judgment on which product was most sustainable. When pushed, ChatGPT finally gave me a definitive answer. Patagonia’s regenerative organic cotton tee came out on top, on the basis that it “supports farming practices that rehabilitate soil and improve farmer livelihoods”, “is produced in a Fairtrade-certified factory, ensuring workers receive a premium for their labour”, “prioritises Bluesign-approved chemicals” and “publishes detailed impact reports, factory lists and third-party audits”.
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