OpenAI Pilots ‘Sponsored Agents’ in ChatGPT Ads, Turning Clicks Into Brand Conversations

OpenAI is piloting a new ChatGPT ad format that turns an ad click into a conversation with a brand’s AI agent instead of a visit to the brand’s website. The format, called Sponsored Agents, lets an advertiser attach a branded business agent to an ad. When a user taps a call to action such as “Chat with us,” they land in a branded chat inside ChatGPT, Digiday reported after viewing the format. Reuters and Search Engine Land also reported that OpenAI is testing the advertiser-sponsored agents, and OpenAI’s help center describes it as a limited test with select US advertisers.

Beyond the basic ad

Right now, ChatGPT shows ads under responses for users on its free and Go plans. At Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia and Technology Conference on Sept. 8, CFO Sarah Friar called those ads the “basic starting point” and said OpenAI is already seeing “early indications” of what a more AI-native format could look like. “This is all before we’ve really launched a format that feels truly endemic to AI,” she said.

Wayfair confirmed to Digiday that it is in the pilot. “We’re testing at limited scale with guardrails around product accuracy, transparency and service handoffs,” said Morgan Brown, Wayfair’s director of paid media.

What advertisers think

“This is similar to Meta Ads that send people to WhatsApp,” said Farhad Divecha, group CEO of Accuracast. Advertisers can open a line of communication with prospects and route qualified ones to sales, customer service or the right purchase page.

The format may help with ChatGPT’s main problem as an ad platform, which is unproven returns. “While they’ve been a hot new platform for advertisers, the ROI just hasn’t been there for the most part,” said Shamsul Chowdhury, SVP of paid media at Zeno Group. Most advertisers in ChatGPT ads are still spending from experimental budgets. Retailers also face a trade-off: keeping a shopper inside ChatGPT means giving up the first-party data they collect on their own sites.

Heading into the holiday quarter, with costs rising and returns flat on Google and Meta, Chowdhury said OpenAI could become an alternative channel for some spending, provided the agent experience is seamless.