OpenAI Gives Brands Free ChatGPT Profiles and Reportedly Sells Ads That Open Agents
Brands can claim a ChatGPT profile at no cost and read Insights on their mentions. In the US, they can also pay to make their agent the landing spot for a ChatGPT ad.
TL;DR
- OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT on November 10, with claimable profiles, an Insights dashboard and Business Agents for eligible US companies.
- Brands can also pay to send ChatGPT ad clicks to their agent, The Rundown reported.
- OpenAI hasn't published a price or conversion figure for sponsored agents, and Insights shows no prompts or competitors.
OpenAI now lets companies claim a page inside ChatGPT, and US brands can pay to send ad clicks to their own agent.
OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta on November 10, 2026. A company can claim a profile, manage what ChatGPT shows about it and read engagement data. Eligible US ecommerce and online-service businesses can also publish a Business Agent. OpenAI labels the agent's chats and keeps them separate from ChatGPT's own answers.
The profile, the dashboard and the agent cost nothing. The Rundown reported that brands can now pay to make their agent the landing spot for a ChatGPT ad, with each paid spot labeled.
The ad business behind the profile
OpenAI's launch has four parts, and only the last one is sold:
- A profile, which an eligible company claims and manages.
- Insights, a dashboard of mentions, website clicks and discovery topics.
- A Business Agent, open to eligible US ecommerce and online-service businesses.
- A sponsored agent, which makes the agent the destination for a ChatGPT ad.
OpenAI piloted ad-linked agents in September, The Rundown reported, two months before the profiles opened. OpenAI says its ad business reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in September, Trending Topics reports. In October, OpenAI reported more than 100,000 advertisers in 89 countries. The outlet says Business Agents are meant to bring in revenue through advertising. OpenAI has also been courting smaller advertisers. Trending Topics described the sequence as showing companies how often they appear, then selling them "ways to appear more often."
A chat replaces the landing page
Corey Haines, founder of Conversion Factory, compared the launch to Google Business Profile in a post on X. Haines called ads that open an agent chat "a whole new conversion surface." In Haines's view, attribution will be messy, because brands can't see the prompts or the competitors behind their numbers.
Insights counts mentions, website clicks and discovery topics over a 28-day window, Affiverse reports from OpenAI's setup guide. It shows a number only above activity thresholds OpenAI doesn't publish. For an online business, a mention counts only when ChatGPT references the company's website.
The dashboard covers organic answers only, Trending Topics notes, and OpenAI keeps the conversations. "We don't share individual ChatGPT conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses," Benji Shomair wrote for the OpenAI team. OpenAI hasn't published a price, cost per thousand impressions or conversion rate for sponsored agents.
Search Console didn't replace paid SEO tools
Google's Search Console is free and never made paid SEO tools obsolete, Trending Topics points out. The outlet names OtterlyAI, Peec AI and Profound as the vendors OpenAI's dashboard overlaps with, and Profound has already moved into paid ads on ChatGPT. Trending Topics also questions whether users want to talk to brand agents at all.
That argument fits the profile and the dashboard, which a marketing team sets up once. The sponsored agent is a separate purchase, on a surface where OpenAI sets the price and hasn't published results. Reach is narrow for now too. Business Agents are US-only, while companies in any country where ChatGPT is available, Europe included, can claim a profile, according to Trending Topics.
OpenAI counts the free mentions and prices the paid ones
OpenAI defines what counts as a mention on the free dashboard, and it sets the price of the placement that sends an ad to a brand's agent.
If OpenAI publishes a price or conversion rate for sponsored agents, the placement can be weighed against other paid channels. Until it does, a brand's evidence is mentions, clicks and topics over 28 days, with no prompts attached.
We don't share individual ChatGPT conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses.
OpenAI hasn't published a price, cost per thousand impressions or conversion rate for sponsored agents. Until it does, Insights gives brands only mentions, clicks and topics over 28 days.
