OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta on Tuesday, letting companies claim and verify profiles, update their details, and launch Business Agents that answer customer questions about their products inside ChatGPT. The beta is aimed at the 1.2 billion people OpenAI says use ChatGPT each week.
Profiles are managed in a new Business Hub, where companies can update business information and supply product feeds with pricing and availability. Verified businesses get a blue check. Shopify merchants can connect their stores through Business Hub or the Shopify admin, and eligible Shopify products already appear in ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog.
Business Hub also shows aggregated data: how often a business is mentioned in ChatGPT responses, how many people click through to its website, and common topics in those conversations. OpenAI says businesses do not see individual user conversations or chats with their agents, and engagement data appears only above set thresholds. For online businesses, a mention counts when ChatGPT references the business's website; naming the brand alone does not count.
Key facts
- 01OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta on November 10, 2026, with verified profiles managed in a Business Hub.
- 02Business Agents are initially limited to eligible U.S. ecommerce and online service businesses.
- 03Businesses see aggregated mentions, website clicks and conversation topics, but not individual chats.
- 04The free Business Agent is the organic version of the Sponsored Agents ad format OpenAI began testing in September.
- 05OpenAI's ads passed a $1 billion annual run rate in August and now count 100,000 advertisers.
After claiming a profile, a business can build, test and launch a Business Agent. When the business appears in a ChatGPT answer, a user can open its profile and start a separate, labelled conversation with the agent to explore and compare products. OpenAI builds the agent from the instructions and product feed the business supplies, and OpenAI keeps the conversation transcripts. Agents are initially limited to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States.
“We aren't allowing folks to bring their own agents”— Benji Shomair, OpenAI VP of Monetization
The agent hands shoppers off to the brand's own website to complete a purchase, and Benji Shomair, OpenAI's VP of Monetization, said it is up to the business how to close the transaction. OpenAI is building agent payments with Visa. Agents must disclose that they are AI, keep prices accurate and avoid pressure tactics, and purchases or sharing personal data require the user's explicit approval.
The same agent connects to OpenAI's ad business. The free Business Agent is the organic version of Sponsored Agents, a paid format OpenAI began testing in September, and businesses can sponsor their agent as the landing spot for ChatGPT Ads. Shomair said early Sponsored Agent tests showed promising results, particularly in conversation depth.
“The sponsored agent is the paid experience, but the agent that sits behind it should be the same.”— Benji Shomair, OpenAI VP of Monetization
Shomair said ChatGPT's core answers must maintain objectivity and that paying should not affect how frequently a business appears, though business-supplied information may help ChatGPT surface it in more relevant conversations. Business Hub and agents are free for now, and Shomair did not rule out a paid model later.
The launch extends a growing ads operation. OpenAI's ads passed a $1 billion annual run rate in August and now have 100,000 advertisers. OpenAI retired an earlier commerce push, which used a commission model and an in-chat checkout cart, in March.
OpenAI said it plans to expand Business Agents to more markets and categories, and eventually to tools for organizations with more complex needs. The company declined to give a timeline for the wider rollout.
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