OpenAI introduces sponsored agents in ChatGPT

OpenAI introduced “Sponsored Agents”, a format in which clicking a branded ad inside ChatGPT opens a distinct, labelled conversation with an agent run by the advertiser rather than by OpenAI. Wayfair and Angi are the first brands piloting the feature; an Angi-branded agent, for instance, can appear in conversations about home repairs and walk a user through Angi’s own service-request flow to connect them with a contractor.

OpenAI said the sponsored conversation is kept separate from a user’s original chat with ChatGPT: the advertiser does not see what the user discussed before clicking the ad, though it does see whatever the user then types directly to its agent. The company paired the launch with an Ads Manager tool that lets advertisers create, adjust and review ad campaigns using natural-language prompts inside ChatGPT itself, plus new integrations letting Shopify and HubSpot customers manage ChatGPT ad campaigns from those platforms.

The move extends a build-out that began with OpenAI’s January statement of principles for advertising in ChatGPT and February’s first ad tests with US users, and follows a report in August that the ad business had reached a $1 billion annualised run rate. Sponsored Agents go further than a passive ad placement by giving brands an active, conversational presence inside the product — raising the same questions OpenAI faced with earlier ad formats about how clearly sponsored content is distinguished from ChatGPT’s own answers, now applied to an agent capable of extended, multi-turn interaction with the user.