Source : The Verge
SAN FRANCISCO, November 10, 2026 – OpenAI has begun rolling out Businesses in ChatGPT in beta, including verified “Business Agents” that represent companies and can answer customers’ questions about their products and services. The features, announced on Monday, were reported by The Verge and confirmed in an official OpenAI blog post.
OpenAI said businesses can claim and manage their presence through a new Business Hub, then, once verified, update key details and add self-service product feeds with pricing and availability. The company said this is intended to help people explore products and services using more accurate, up-to-date information. According to the announcement, any eligible business in a location where ChatGPT is available can claim its organisation through Business Hub. Existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers can work with their OpenAI representative, while Shopify merchants can connect their store from Business Hub or the Shopify admin. OpenAI added that eligible products from Shopify merchants are already integrated into ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog.
Business Agents are being offered first to eligible e-commerce and online service businesses in the United States. After a company has claimed its business, eligible organisations can build, test and launch an agent. Businesses can specify the agent’s instructions and provide their own context so that it knows how to respond. When a business appears in a ChatGPT response, users can open its ChatGPT profile and, if an agent is available, start a conversation to compare options or ask follow-up questions, such as the differences between two products. OpenAI said those chats will be clearly labelled, kept separate from the user’s main ChatGPT conversation, and distinct from ChatGPT’s own independent answers.
Business Hub will also show companies aggregated insights, including how often they are mentioned, how many website clicks they receive, and the “discovery topics” in which they appear. OpenAI said it will not share users’ conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses, and that insights will be available only when there are enough interactions to meet certain thresholds.
Companies will also be able to sponsor their Business Agent and use it as the destination for ChatGPT Ads. OpenAI said sponsored placements will be clearly labelled and kept separate from ordinary ChatGPT responses. The company also published a Business Agents Policy setting out how businesses may create, publish and edit an agent, including a requirement that an agent must be clear that it is artificial intelligence representing the business, and must not appear to be an independent adviser, a human, or endorsed by OpenAI.
The Verge reported that OpenAI is not publishing a single public list of its verification methods. Benji Shomair, vice-president of monetisation, told the outlet in a press briefing that the methods differ depending on the business.
In its blog post, OpenAI described the launch as “an early step in bringing businesses more deeply into ChatGPT”, saying it was starting with “accurate business information, useful insights, and conversations that help people make informed decisions”. The company said it plans, over time, to expand Businesses in ChatGPT and Business Agents to more markets and business categories, and to build tools for organisations with more complex needs.
OpenAI said the features give businesses a new way to connect with the 1.2 billion people it says use ChatGPT each week. The company added that protecting the trust people place in ChatGPT “remains our North Star”.
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