OpenAI Adds Sponsored Agents and AI Campaign Tools to ChatGPT Ads

OpenAI is adding a new step to ChatGPT advertising: after clicking an ad, users can choose to speak with a clearly labeled agent sponsored by the business. The feature, called Sponsored Agents, is being tested with select U.S. advertisers as OpenAI also releases tools for creating and managing campaigns with natural-language prompts.

The format is meant to carry an ad beyond the initial placement. A person who sees an ad can ask the sponsored agent follow-up questions about a product or service, explain what they need, and use a link to visit the business’s website. OpenAI says the sponsored exchange is distinct from ChatGPT’s independent answers and separate from the original ChatGPT conversation.

From an ad click to a sponsored chat

The advertising workflow is changing on the business side as well. OpenAI says advertisers can use the Ads Manager plugin in ChatGPT to create, update and analyze campaigns through simple prompts. They can turn a website or brief into a campaign, examine performance and receive recommendations on next actions.

Campaign work moves into the chat

The new advertiser controls

• Ads Manager can suggest copy and images using an advertiser’s landing page and campaign objective. Advertisers can review and edit those suggestions before adding them to a campaign.
• Advertisers can opt into text customization, which adapts existing headlines and descriptions to the conversation context and translates copy into a user’s preferred language.

Those controls give advertisers more automated production and targeting-adjacent choices, but the customization is optional. OpenAI’s stated safeguard on the creative features is advertiser review: suggested text and images are not automatically placed into a campaign without the advertiser choosing to add them.

Two routes into existing business systems

OpenAI is also placing ChatGPT Ads inside two systems that businesses already use. HubSpot, OpenAI’s first customer-relationship-management partner for the product, lets businesses connect a ChatGPT Ads account, create ads, track performance and follow up on leads within HubSpot using their HubSpot context.

Shopify is OpenAI’s first ecommerce partner for ChatGPT Ads. U.S.-based Shopify merchants can use a new app to create and manage campaigns; their products are already connected through Shopify Catalog, according to OpenAI. The app is scheduled to become available internationally from September 23 in markets where ChatGPT Ads is available.

The immediate limit is scope: Sponsored Agents remain a select-advertiser U.S. test, while the Shopify app initially serves U.S.-based merchants. OpenAI has described the sponsored conversation’s mechanics but has not provided results showing how people will use it or how it will affect advertising performance.