OpenAI said on 10 November it was launching a ChatGPT business-profile beta and rolling out Business Agents to eligible US e-commerce and online-service companies, Reuters reported. The announcement gives companies a way to manage their information in ChatGPT and measure how users encounter them there.
Key points
- Verified businesses can update their profiles and add product feeds with prices and availability.
- Business Hub offers aggregated counts of mentions, views and website clicks.
- Business Agents are initially available to eligible US e-commerce and online-service businesses.
- Businesses can sponsor an agent and make it a destination for ChatGPT Ads.
Business Hub links profiles to engagement data
The beta, called Businesses, includes a self-service tool named Business Hub. A company can claim its business in ChatGPT. Once verified, it can change key details and supply product feeds containing prices and availability, according to OpenAI’s announcement as reported by Reuters.
Business Hub also gives companies aggregated insights into mentions, views and clicks through to their websites. Those measures put data about a company’s presence in ChatGPT alongside the information it supplies for that presence. OpenAI said the insights are available only when conversations or interactions exceed certain thresholds.
A business can create a profile without creating an agent, Adweek reported. That gives companies a route to manage their details and view engagement through Business Hub without setting up a dedicated conversational interface.
Marketing publication WeRSM compared the proposed Business Hub with Google’s Business Profile and Search Console tools. It described a practice among generative engine optimisation specialists of running repeated prompts to estimate how often brands appeared in ChatGPT answers.
Adweek described Business Hub as competing with specialists that sell those visibility services. OpenAI’s tool supplies companies with engagement measures from ChatGPT itself, rather than estimates assembled by testing prompts.
Business Agents start with eligible US firms
Business Agents are designed for conversations between ChatGPT users and a business’s agent about its products or services. OpenAI said the initial rollout covers eligible e-commerce and online-service businesses in the United States.
The agent sits alongside the profile rather than being a condition for creating one. Companies using Business Hub can contribute business and product information whether or not they create an agent, while eligible businesses can add the conversational route for customer questions.
OpenAI said it does not share users’ conversations or their Business Agent chats with businesses. Its engagement insights are aggregated and become available only after enough conversations or interactions have taken place to meet its thresholds.
For a merchant, the two offerings cover different interactions in ChatGPT: a managed business profile with product information, and an agent through which a user can ask about products or services. The rollout of the agent feature is initially limited to the eligible US businesses OpenAI identified.
ChatGPT Ads can direct users to agents
OpenAI said businesses can sponsor their Business Agent and use it as the destination for ChatGPT Ads. Sponsored placements will carry a label. The advertising option connects an agent representing a business with paid placements in ChatGPT.
The profile and advertising routes differ. Adweek reported that creating a business profile does not require an agent. OpenAI’s sponsorship option applies to Business Agents, giving eligible businesses a separate way to use the conversational feature with ChatGPT Ads.
Shopify merchants can connect their stores through Business Hub or through Shopify’s own admin interface, OpenAI said. That provides two entry points for merchants seeking to link a store to their business presence in ChatGPT.
Existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers can instead work with their OpenAI representative to claim their business, Reuters reported.
