When ChatGPT recommends a shop or a service, the business behind it has had no say in what the answer says about it. OpenAI is changing that. It has launched a beta called Businesses in ChatGPT, which lets companies claim and verify their profiles, keep their details up to date and, in the US, put their own AI agent inside ChatGPT to talk to customers. That same agent can also be bought as an advert, which is the part readers should watch.
The basics, as reported by The Next Web and others, run through a new Business Hub. Verified companies get a blue check and can update their details, prices and stock, and upload product feeds. They also get aggregated data on how often ChatGPT mentions them, how many people click through to their website and common topics in those conversations. OpenAI says it does not share users' conversations with businesses. Shopify merchants can connect their stores directly. OpenAI says ChatGPT has 1.2 billion weekly users, which is the audience these profiles are meant to reach.
Business Agents are the bigger step. Eligible US ecommerce and online-service firms can build an agent that answers questions using the company's own product details. When a business appears in a ChatGPT answer, you can open its profile and chat with the agent in a separate, labelled conversation. OpenAI's rules say agents must state that they are AI, keep prices accurate and avoid pressure tactics, and purchases or sharing personal data need your explicit approval. For now, buyers are sent to the brand's own website.
The money comes from advertising. Businesses can sponsor their agent and use it as the landing spot for ChatGPT Ads, building on a Sponsored Agents test that began in September. OpenAI's advertising passed a $1B annual run rate in August, according to The Next Web, and has 100,000 advertisers. Digiday reports that OpenAI says paying does not change how often ChatGPT recommends a business. That promise matters, because a Mount Sinai study this week found that a labelled drug advert placed before a question shifted which drug chatbots recommended.
The open questions are about trust. OpenAI has not published pricing for Business Agents or explained whether supplying richer business data affects how often a company appears in answers, even without paying. Labelled sponsorship is better than hidden placement, but readers who use ChatGPT for shopping should treat a business's own agent the way they would a salesperson: useful for product details, not a neutral adviser. Alternatives such as Perplexity and Gemini will face the same choice.