Southwest has launched a plug-in with ChatGPT, giving the AI search engine direct access to its flight inventory.

The plug-in is the first between a U.S. airline and the generative AI platform, Southwest said.

With the connection, ChatGPT users still won't book Southwest flights directly within the platform. They'll instead be handed off to Southwest.com for purchases and confirmation.

But, during the travel and flight search process, ChatGPT will deliver information directly from Southwest's systems, rather than reconstructing Southwest's offerings from public search results. As a result, ChatGPT's schedule and fare information for Southwest is more likely to be accurate.

Southwest said it would continue working with ChatGPT owner OpenAI and its cloud computing technology partner Amazon Web Services to expand AI-powered capabilities over time.