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OpenAI tests Sponsored Agents in ChatGPT ads: a labeled chat with a business's agent, kept separate from ChatGPT's independent answers
On 2026-09-16 OpenAI published "Reimagining advertising with AI" and said it is testing Sponsored Agents with select advertisers in the United States. After seeing an ad in ChatGPT, a user can choose to start a clearly labeled conversation with an agent the business sponsors. OpenAI says that conversation is separate from the original conversation and from ChatGPT's independent answers. For a business that wants ChatGPT to recommend it, the announcement adds a paid place to talk to a customer and leaves the unpaid answer where it was.
What OpenAI announced
OpenAI's post describes the format in three sentences, quoted by PYMNTS: "Sponsored Agents give users the option to go deeper. After seeing a relevant ad, a user can choose to start a clearly labeled conversation with a business-sponsored agent in ChatGPT. The user can explain what matters to them, ask follow-up questions and follow a link to the business's website when they're ready to take the next step."
On where that conversation sits, Search Engine Roundtable quotes the post: the "conversation with a Sponsored Agent is distinct from ChatGPT's independent answers and separate from the original conversation that the user started in ChatGPT." The test runs with select advertisers in the United States. OpenAI has not said which advertisers, how many users see it, or when it widens.
The same post says advertisers can create ads by writing prompts in ChatGPT, that Ads Manager gets new AI creative tools, and that ChatGPT Ads now connects to HubSpot and Shopify. Search Engine Roundtable also published the email OpenAI sent to advertisers. Its measurement items:
| Change | What the email says |
|---|---|
| Conversion optimization with impression billing | Generally available. Optimizes for conversions from ad clicks and ad views; billing is by impression. |
| Attribution windows | A 7-, 14- or 30-day click window and a 0- or 1-day view window for conversion reporting. |
| Platform targeting | Android app, Android web, desktop web, iOS app and iOS web can be targeted separately, and reports can be split by platform. |
| Shopify | US-based merchants can connect a product catalog and measurement through a ChatGPT Ads app; international availability is planned later in September. |
| HubSpot | Connect a ChatGPT Ads account, create ads, track performance and follow up on leads inside HubSpot. |
| Event Quality Score | A 1 to 10 setup score for Pixel and Conversions API data sources, under Tools > Conversions. |
| Sponsored Agents | "We are testing Sponsored Agents with select advertisers in the United States." |
What it changes for a business that wants to be recommended
- The paid surface now holds a conversation. A Sponsored Agent can take a customer's question and answer it in the business's words before the click. That is a sales channel, and it is bought.
- The unpaid answer is, by OpenAI's own description, a different thing. OpenAI calls ChatGPT's answers "independent" and keeps the agent's conversation apart from them. That matches the one large measurement we have covered: SE Ranking's study of 50,006 commercial prompts found the advertiser's domain among the answer's cited sources on 3.63% of ad placements. Buying the ad did not put the advertiser in the answer. Nothing in this announcement says a Sponsored Agent will.
- Attribution gets longer windows and a view window. A 30-day click window and a 1-day view window can credit ChatGPT Ads with conversions that a last-click report assigns to search or direct. Anyone comparing channels should note which window each report uses.
- The test is US-only and limited to select advertisers. A small business cannot buy this today, and nothing published says what it will cost.
What to do with it
Whether ChatGPT names a business in its own answer is still decided by what it can read and cite about that business, and that can be checked without buying anything: ask the engines the questions a customer would ask and see who is named. If the ad test widens, the two results are worth keeping in separate columns: what the paid agent said when asked, and what ChatGPT said on its own.
How this was verified
OpenAI's page returned HTTP 403 to our fetches on 2026-09-16 and again today, so we did not read it directly. Every quotation above is taken from two outlets that published on 2026-09-16 and quote the post in matching words: Search Engine Roundtable, which also reproduces OpenAI's email to advertisers, and PYMNTS. Claims that appear in only one of the two are attributed to it by name. We did not see a Sponsored Agent in ChatGPT ourselves.
What is a Sponsored Agent in ChatGPT?
A format OpenAI began testing on 2026-09-16 with select US advertisers. After seeing an ad, a user can start a clearly labeled conversation with an agent the business sponsors, ask questions, and follow a link to the business's site.
Does a Sponsored Agent change what ChatGPT recommends in its normal answers?
OpenAI says the agent's conversation is distinct from ChatGPT's independent answers and separate from the user's original conversation. Nothing in the announcement says advertising affects those answers.
Can any business buy a Sponsored Agent?
Not as of 2026-09-18. OpenAI describes a test with select advertisers in the United States and has published no price or wider date.
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