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OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents with select US advertisers, letting users chat with business-sponsored agents and visit advertiser websites via ChatGPT ads

OpenAI said on Wednesday it has introduced AI-powered tools for advertisers and begun testing business-sponsored agents for users to chat with …

Reuters Anzar Mehraj

Context & Ripple Effects

OpenAI had already built the buying layer for ChatGPT advertising through its US cost-per-click Ads Manager beta and had asked some early advertisers for substantial commitments as beta ads rolled out. Sponsored Agents extend that commercial stack beyond ad placement into an interaction advertisers can shape.

Earlier reporting said OpenAI staff had considered sponsored content for relevant ChatGPT queries, including sidebar and pop-up concepts. The new test makes the advertiser’s destination site part of a conversational ad flow rather than the sole post-click experience.

First-order effects

  • Select US advertisers can test a ChatGPT ad format that lets users ask a business-sponsored agent follow-up questions before visiting the advertiser’s website.
  • OpenAI gives advertisers AI-powered ad tools alongside the Sponsored Agents test, expanding its role from selling placements to mediating advertiser-user conversations.

Second-order effects

  • Advertisers using the format must compete on the quality and usefulness of their agent’s answers, shifting part of campaign execution from static creative and landing pages into conversational brand experiences.
  • HubSpot’s public positioning of ChatGPT ad measurement alongside other campaigns signals that marketing platforms will seek to make ChatGPT inventory measurable within existing advertiser workflows.

Third-order effects

  • If Sponsored Agents scale beyond the test, OpenAI can become a distribution gatekeeper for commercial conversations, determining how sponsored brands are introduced before users reach a company-owned website.
  • The format points toward AI advertising priced and optimized around qualified conversations and downstream visits, not only impressions or clicks.

The trend: Conversational AI platforms are evolving from ad inventory into agent-mediated commerce and lead-generation channels.

Related: Agent Distribution Gatekeeper · Embedded AI agents · AI content commercialization · OpenAI · ChatGPT · OpenAI rolls out a beta version of its new Ads Manager tool to adverti

Related Coverage

Discussion

  • @hubspot @hubspot on x
    Your buyers are making decisions in ChatGPT. Now, HubSpot's the first CRM that lets you run ChatGPT Ads and see how they perform next to everything else you're running in HubSpot. The buying journey moved, and now your ads can too. Get started here: https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/…
  • @glenngabe Glenn Gabe on x
    I'm sure Google isn't far behind. Ads are about to get very interesting... :) -> OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents, which let users chat with business-sponsored agents and visit advertiser websites via ChatGPT ads, with some US advertisers
  • @jurlycat @jurlycat on x
    OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents inside ChatGPT. After clicking an ad, users can talk to the brand's agent, ask follow-up questions, and visit its website when they're ready. Brands used to pay for attention. Now they can pay to join the decision itself.
  • @rustybrick Barry Schwartz on x
    Here is the email OpenAI sent advertisers about these ChatGPT Ads updates, including the Sponsored Agents format - story updated at https://www.seroundtable.com/ ...