OpenAI is moving ChatGPT advertising beyond conventional sponsored placements by testing separate conversational agents representing advertisers, creating a format in which users can move from seeing an ad to holding an AI-powered conversation with the business behind it. Reuters reported on September 16 that the Sponsored Agents test is initially being conducted with selected U.S. advertisers, while OpenAI is also adding artificial-intelligence tools that can create, modify and analyse advertising campaigns.
The company says Sponsored Agents will remain clearly labelled and separate from both ChatGPT’s independent responses and the conversation that triggered the ad. Users who choose to engage can ask the sponsored agent questions about a business or its products and then follow a link to the advertiser’s website. OpenAI’s advertising terms define a Sponsored Agent as an advertiser-sponsored conversational experience that acts as an AI-generated representative for a company, its products or its services.
How do ChatGPT Sponsored Agents differ from ordinary digital ads?
Traditional search advertising frequently ends the platform interaction when a user clicks an advertisement and visits another website. Sponsored Agents could extend the interaction within ChatGPT by allowing potential customers to ask follow-up questions about product specifications, availability, compatibility or other purchase considerations before leaving for the advertiser’s site.
That creates a potentially important new advertising surface because ChatGPT conversations often reveal considerably more context than a short search query. OpenAI’s advertiser materials say the platform is intended to reach users while they are comparing choices and making decisions, although it also states that sponsored content remains distinct from ChatGPT responses.
The model could therefore move online advertising closer to automated sales consultation. Instead of simply matching a keyword with a landing page, an advertiser could potentially use an agent to answer specific questions and reduce friction before a purchase.
The commercial opportunity is substantial, but so is the need to preserve the distinction between paid persuasion and independent answers. OpenAI’s decision to separate Sponsored Agent conversations from the original conversation is therefore not merely a design feature; it is fundamental to whether users can understand when they are interacting with advertising.
How big has ChatGPT advertising already become?
OpenAI said on August 31 that ChatGPT Ads had reached a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate less than 200 days after launch. The company said tens of thousands of advertisers were using the platform and that ChatGPT itself had more than one billion weekly active users.
The advertising business has also moved quickly beyond an experimental managed-sales product. OpenAI introduced a self-service Ads Manager in May, added cost-per-click bidding and expanded measurement capabilities before extending self-service advertising access across India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Small and medium-sized businesses now represent a material part of the advertiser base, according to OpenAI.
That scale explains why Sponsored Agents are potentially more consequential than another isolated product feature. OpenAI is constructing an advertising system around a platform where users already spend significant amounts of time researching, comparing and asking increasingly detailed commercial questions.
What new tools is OpenAI giving advertisers?
Reuters reported that OpenAI’s expanded Ads Manager tools allow advertisers to use natural-language instructions to create, update and analyse campaigns. The system can turn a company website or campaign brief into advertising material, suggest copy and images and provide recommendations based on campaign performance.
An optional text-customisation function can also adapt existing headlines and descriptions to the context of a conversation and translate advertising into a user’s preferred language. That moves generative AI into both sides of the advertising transaction: AI determines and presents an appropriate ad experience for consumers while also helping advertisers create and optimise the campaigns themselves.
HubSpot is becoming OpenAI’s first customer-relationship-management partner for the new initiative, while Shopify is the first e-commerce partner. Reuters reported that the Shopify integration is scheduled to begin international expansion in markets where ChatGPT Ads operates from September 23.
Could ChatGPT become a serious competitor to Google and Meta advertising?
Google and Meta Platforms have spent decades building enormous advertising ecosystems supported by measurement, targeting, auctions, merchant integrations and billions of users. OpenAI does not need to replicate those systems immediately to create competitive pressure.
Its differentiating asset is conversational intent. A user discussing which laptop to buy, which accounting product fits a company or what furniture works in a particular room can provide richer context than a traditional keyword search. That potentially makes the moment surrounding an ad exceptionally valuable.
OpenAI also says ads remain separate from answers and advertisers do not control ChatGPT’s independent responses. Its current help documentation says Plus, Pro and Business accounts do not receive ads, while the advertising-supported model is concentrated in other eligible tiers.
The bigger question is whether users accept conversational advertising without feeling that commercial incentives have contaminated the core assistant. If OpenAI preserves that boundary, Sponsored Agents could create a new advertising category rather than simply another banner format.
What should advertisers and competitors watch next?
The most important signals will be adoption, conversion performance and whether users voluntarily interact with Sponsored Agents after seeing an advertisement. OpenAI has already said recent advertisers have recorded measurable returns and that more than 80% of ad-driven ChatGPT traffic observed by one technology partner consisted of new customers. Those figures are company-reported examples rather than industry-wide performance benchmarks.
A successful Sponsored Agents rollout would give OpenAI another route to monetise its enormous free-user base while diversifying beyond subscriptions and API usage. It could also force Google, Meta, Amazon and other advertising platforms to accelerate conversational buying formats of their own.
ChatGPT advertising began with placements underneath answers. OpenAI is now testing something more ambitious: allowing the advertisement itself to talk back.
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