ChatGPT has already found numerous use cases in the traditional world of business, but a new application shows its potential for brands experimenting in the world of Web3.

Solana, the second most popular blockchain in terms of active wallets, has built a ChatGPT plugin to assist with various tasks across its network. The tool is currently an unverified plug-in, which means it is available to users of ChatGPT as it awaits formal acceptance into OpenAI’s plug-in store. Its primary features include helping users discover and mint NFTs, facilitate crypto trading and interpret confusing data.

Solana’s development illustrates how generative AI tools could feasibly be used to simplify a Web3 experience—which has been a major point of friction for traditional brands. The complex nature of Web3 technology, such as crypto wallets and metaverse interoperability, has hampered brands’ efforts to onboard their consumers. Disney has already ducked out of the space, and Meta has pared back the functionality of basic Web3 tools. Other brands such as Reddit and Starbucks have altered the terminology of their tools in order to reflect a less intimidating experience.

“We’re definitely seeing user challenges in the blockchain ecosystem,” said Tal Tchwella, head of product at Solana Labs, the tech arm of the Solana blockchain, which developed the plug-in. 

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With the help of ChatGPT’s infrastructure, however, these challenges can be addressed with ease and scale, Tchwella said. For example, a user who is new to Web3 can ask the AI bot for instructions on how to purchase an NFT in Solana’s ecosystem. ChatGPT can then retrieve real-time results, providing responses specific to the user’s budget, interests and follow-up curiosities, such as “Tell me more about this NFT collection’s community.”

ChatGPT’s ability to open a conversation with a user about any topic has been one of its primary attractions, and is already helping brands such as Kayak and OpenTable usher consumers through their services. OpenAI launched the plug-in feature in March, and companies have raced to join the waitlist in order to meet ChatGPT’s growing user base. Plug-ins effectively work as browser extensions, allowing ChatGPT to access a company’s services within its own interface and spit that information out to the end user. 

Streamlining user engagement is clearly valuable to Web3 services, too. Tchwella hopes that app developers across the Solana ecosystem will team with Solana Labs to offer their data to the plug-in, thus expanding its capabilities and unifying the blockchain ecosystem for users. 

For traditional brands, leveraging such a tool—whether Solana’s or its own development—could have immediate benefits. Instead of leaving consumers with a sparse list of frequently asked questions, a brand could allow the ability for users to ask any question they want pertaining to its Web3 experience—from the basics of its crypto wallet to the ins and outs of its blockchain data.

Moreover, the need for exiting the ChatGPT interface, and thus becoming exposed to potential bad actors, could be completely eliminated. Solana’s tool, for example, allows users to select the NFT they’d like to purchase and then prompts payment via a QR code. Everything can be achieved within the plug-in, Tchwella said. 

“For the Web2 audience, Web3 is incomprehensible—this will make it more digestible,” he said.