OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT gives brands profiles and AI agents

Felix Laurent 11 Nov 2026 5 min read

Big tech

OpenAI has opened Businesses in ChatGPT in beta. Companies can now claim a profile inside the chatbot and see how often it cites them. The company announced it on November 10, 2026. Eligible US online businesses can also build a Business Agent that answers customers' questions about their products.

Both tools are free for now. OpenAI pitches them as a way to reach the 1.2 billion people who use ChatGPT each week. TechCrunch's headline summed up the move as making ChatGPT "just a little bit more like Google."

What Businesses in ChatGPT includes

The center of the product is Business Hub, a dashboard where owners claim and manage their listing. After verification, a company can edit its details and upload a product feed with current prices and availability. Feeds come as CSV or JSONL files, or sync from Shopify, the only partner OpenAI has named.

Claiming takes two steps. First comes proof of control, through a phone call or text, a business email, a DNS record or a Shopify connection. Then an identity check through Persona may ask for a government ID or registration papers. The blue check mark appears only after that second step.

Any eligible business in a country where ChatGPT is available can apply, and a website is required at first. Local shops and restaurants can claim only an existing US listing. OpenAI says eligibility depends on industry, location and integrity checks, so not every business will qualify.

The dashboard also answers a question marketers have been asking for two years.

What the Business Hub dashboard shows

Business Hub reports mentions, profile views, website clicks and common topics over a 28-day window. Numbers appear only above a minimum threshold, so a blank field does not mean zero. A tooltip warns that clicks do not confirm actual visits or conversions.

The definition of a mention is strict. For online businesses, ChatGPT has to reference the website, and an OpenAI spokesperson told Digiday that just naming the brand doesn't count. For local businesses, showing the location is enough.

There are clear limits on the data. Businesses get no prompts, no transcripts and no share of voice against rivals. OpenAI says it does not share people's conversations or Business Agent chats with companies.

Numbers tell a brand where it stands. The second tool lets it talk back.

How Business Agents work

A Business Agent is a branded chatbot that lives on the company's profile. A user sees a business in an answer, opens the profile and starts a separate, clearly labeled conversation. The agent works from the brand's instructions, business details and product feed.

It can answer questions, compare items and link to the store. It cannot complete a purchase, make a booking or look up an order. Benji Shomair, OpenAI's VP of monetization, told Digiday that companies cannot bring their own agents either.

OpenAI's rules are specific. An agent must say it is AI and may not pose as a human or an independent adviser. Invented prices, false urgency and requests for health data or IDs are banned. OpenAI reviews each agent at creation and after every update.

For now the agent is limited to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the US. The sale itself happens on the brand's website. That design has a history, and it also connects directly to OpenAI's ad business.

How this connects to ChatGPT ads and checkout

OpenAI tried selling inside ChatGPT before. Instant Checkout launched in September 2025 and was pulled back in March 2026, after OpenAI said it lacked the flexibility the company wanted. Reports said only about a dozen Shopify merchants went live. OpenAI is now building agent payments with Visa, with no date set.

Ads have gone much better. The test began in February 2026 and reached a $1 billion annualized run rate by the end of August. Digiday reported more than 100,000 advertisers in 89 countries by late October.

Business Agents plug into that system. A company can already pay to send ad clicks to its agent in a limited test called Sponsored Agents. "Think of the business agent as the organic experience," Shomair told Digiday, describing the sponsored version as the paid one.

OpenAI insists the paid side stays separate from answers. Shomair said the core product must "maintain objectivity" and that taking part should not change how often a business appears. The help center says claiming does not guarantee higher placement. Accurate feeds can still help ChatGPT match products to queries, so an indirect benefit is possible.

That question matters most to the people who sell AI visibility for a living.

How marketers reacted

SEO specialists have wanted a dashboard like this for a long time. Aleyda Solis called a leaked version "long-due" days before launch. Investor Greg Isenberg said it "could be the google my business moment for ai" on X. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable verified his site through DNS, saw no data at first and worried about hijacked listings.

The launch also hits a young industry. Startups such as Profound, Peec AI and OtterlyAI sell estimates of how brands appear in chatbots. Analyst Debra Aho Williamson told Digiday the first-party data "will take some of the power away from the third-party companies."

Critics pointed to gaps. The dashboard covers ChatGPT only and hides the prompts that matter most for strategy. Combining visibility reports with paid agents also blurs the line between recommendations and ads.

On X, the loudest replies had little to do with businesses. Many users asked for a new model, and one joked that ChatGPT "becomes the new yellow pages listing" with this launch. Several reported errors while trying to verify. OpenAI is also entering a market where rivals moved first.

Google, Meta and the race for business agents

Google launched its own Business Agent in January 2026, with Lowe's, Poshmark and Reebok among the first brands. Its Universal Commerce Protocol now supports direct checkout in Search, a step OpenAI has retreated from. Google Business Profile also has two decades of local listings behind it.

Meta rolled out a Business Agent across WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram this year. On top of that, shopping is now the top use of its Muse agent. Microsoft has Copilot Checkout, and Perplexity sells through PayPal. Amazon blocks most outside shopping agents and keeps its assistant inside its own store.

OpenAI's edge is scale. At DevDay in September it cited about 1.2 billion weekly users. Bloomberg reports it is chasing $70 billion in annualized revenue by year-end. Local data is also improving through a licensing deal with Yelp.

Should businesses claim a ChatGPT profile

For most companies with a website, claiming is an easy call. It costs nothing, it protects the listing from impostors and it gives the first official data on how ChatGPT cites a brand. Uploading a clean product feed makes sense for anyone selling online in the US.

The Business Agent is a harder decision. It adds a sales channel that cannot sell yet, and it is unclear how many users will leave an answer to chat with a brand. OpenAI has also not ruled out charging later. Businesses in ChatGPT is worth claiming today, with the understanding that it is the front door to OpenAI's ad business.