OpenAI on Tuesday launched a beta program online that lets businesses claim their profiles in ChatGPT, update the information customers see and track how often the chatbot sends people to their websites.
Eligible U.S. online retailers and service businesses can also publish a Business Agent that answers customer questions about their own products and policies.
That means a shopper who starts by asking ChatGPT to compare several brands can open a profile for one of them and start a separate conversation with an AI representative of that specific business.
They might ask whether a particular model will fit their space or whether the retailer accepts returns on sale items. The business supplies the information and sets guidelines for the agent. ChatGPT labels the conversation so shoppers can tell when they’ve switched from the general assistant to one representing the seller.
OpenAI’s setup guide describes publishing a single Business Agent from a claimed profile. The company hasn’t specified whether that’s a hard limit or whether a business with multiple eligible profiles can publish a separate agent for each.
The change gives marketing and ecommerce teams a direct way to correct stale information in a service that OpenAI says reaches 1.2 billion people a week.
It also gives them a way to see whether appearing in a ChatGPT answer leads to a visit to their site. OpenAI says ChatGPT will continue to make independent recommendations and that claiming a profile carries no guarantee of better placement or more sales.
Who can claim a profile and who can publish an agent
OpenAI is rolling out the two features on different terms. Eligible businesses can apply to claim a profile in markets where ChatGPT operates and OpenAI supports the required verification.
Owners and authorized representatives can apply through Business Hub without a ChatGPT Enterprise agreement or an ads account.
Local stores and restaurants can currently claim only an existing U.S. listing. Publishing a Business Agent has a narrower set of requirements. At launch, it’s available to eligible U.S. ecommerce and online service companies with a website.
Eligible businesses can claim and manage a profile in Business Hub and publish a Business Agent for free at launch, Digiday reported after a briefing with OpenAI’s vice president of monetization, Benji Shomair. Shomair left open the possibility of charging in the future.
Depending on the business, OpenAI can verify a claim through a business phone number, email address, website domain or Shopify account. After claim approval, the person managing the listing must complete a separate identity check through Persona before publishing profile changes, connecting a product feed, seeing analytics or creating an agent. The blue check appears after that identity verification is approved.
Retailers can upload a product feed with prices and stock information, or connect their Shopify store to sync those details.
Products from eligible Shopify stores could already appear in ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog. The new integration lets a merchant use that catalog to help set up a branded agent and test its answers before publishing. The Shopify App Store lists OpenAI’s app as free.
How to claim your businesses's profile in ChatGPT
Log into ChatGPT with the account you use for work
Visit the new OpenAI ChatGPT Business Hub
Enter your business name in the search bar and select it from the automatic suggestions in the dropdown, or if unlisted, type it in
Click "Get Started" on the resulting dialog box
Log in again with the ChatGPT account that you want to have administrator privileges over your business page
Continue through the setup process
What the dashboard can tell businesses
Business Hub shows aggregate activity over the past 28 days, including website clicks, mentions and recurring topics in answers that referenced the business. OpenAI counts mentions differently depending on the type of business.
For an online company, ChatGPT has to reference its website for the mention to count. For a local company, showing the location in a result is enough, even if the user never opens the listing. That distinction matters for anyone comparing how an online store and a brick-and-mortar location perform.
“We don’t share users’ conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses,” OpenAI said. The dashboard reports activity only after it meets minimum thresholds.
OpenAI says a blank metric can also mean it’s still collecting data or that reporting is unavailable. A retailer could see that return policies come up frequently and clarify its published policy, but it can’t read a shopper’s chat to find out where a particular answer fell short.
A business listing that can double as an ad destination
Claiming a profile will be familiar to anyone who manages a Google Business Profile, where owners can update information such as hours and add in-store products. OpenAI adds a conversational step.
A merchant can give shoppers a place to ask follow-up questions inside ChatGPT, then point them to its own website. That puts some of the work of a product page or a pre-sales chat in the same app where the shopper began comparing options.
OpenAI also says businesses can make a Business Agent the destination for a ChatGPT ad. A shopper who clicks a sponsored placement can open a labeled chat with the seller’s agent. Access to that ad format is narrower than access to the Business Agent beta itself. OpenAI’s advertising help center says Sponsored Agents are in a limited test with selected advertisers.
The immediate change is that businesses can supply current information, field questions and measure some of the traffic ChatGPT sends their way. For merchants evaluating the beta, a website click is the clearest sign in Business Hub that someone took a step beyond reading an answer. Whether those visits turn into orders is a question for the merchant’s own analytics.