OpenAI has opened Businesses in ChatGPT in beta. Through Business Hub, eligible businesses can claim a profile, keep their information current, and see aggregated insights on how people engage with them in ChatGPT. Eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States can also publish a Business Agent.
OpenAI says the launch gives businesses a way to connect with “the 1.2 billion people who use ChatGPT each week.” That weekly-user figure is the company’s own.
Claiming a profile
In Business Hub, companies can claim their organisation in ChatGPT and, once verified, update key details and add self-service product feeds with pricing and availability. OpenAI’s product page says a blue check appears on a claimed business profile, and that claiming is initially available to eligible businesses with a website.
Any eligible business located where ChatGPT is available can claim through Business Hub. Existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers can work with their OpenAI representative. Shopify merchants can connect their store from Business Hub or the Shopify admin to streamline verification. OpenAI says eligible products from Shopify merchants are already integrated into ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog.
You must own the business or be authorised to represent it. OpenAI’s Businesses in ChatGPT policy says it may decline a request when offerings or practices raise significant safety or integrity concerns, and may hold off on other categories until it has the safeguards it wants. It also says businesses remain responsible for the information they provide, “even though OpenAI does not verify every detail or resolve every factual dispute.”
“ChatGPT continues to make independent recommendations and comparisons. Claiming does not guarantee higher placement or sales.”
OpenAI, Businesses in ChatGPT
How claiming and verification work
OpenAI’s help centre guide sets out the steps. You open Business Hub from the ChatGPT sidebar, search for your business, pick the matching listing and confirm which ChatGPT account will manage it. You then verify by business phone, business email, a DNS TXT record on your website domain, or a Shopify store connection. OpenAI reviews each claim and emails its decision. You don’t need an Ads account or a ChatGPT Enterprise agreement to claim.
Approval isn’t the last step. Before you can publish changes, connect a product feed, view insights or create an agent, you also need identity verification through Persona, which may ask for a government-issued ID, business registration details and proof that you’re authorised to represent the business. The help centre says the blue check appears only after that Persona check is approved, so claiming on its own doesn’t earn the badge.
Some limits apply for now. Local stores and restaurants can only claim an existing US listing, while eligible online businesses may see an option to add a new one. Each brand is managed separately, with no central management across a parent company’s brands and locations, and claiming the main brand doesn’t claim its locations. OpenAI Support also can’t delete, unpublish or hide a published profile.
What Business Hub shows
Business Hub provides aggregated insights into how people engage with a business in ChatGPT. OpenAI says this includes the number of mentions and website clicks a business receives. Businesses can also explore discovery topics, which the company describes as “common themes across conversations where their website is cited.”
OpenAI’s launch screenshots also show profile views, a mentions chart, seven-day and 28-day ranges, and a separate Agent insights tab, using a sample business called Colorful Clatter. Those figures are from OpenAI’s promotional imagery, not an independently checked live account.
OpenAI says it doesn’t share users’ conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses. Insights are aggregated “and are only available when there are enough conversations or interactions to meet certain thresholds.” The company has not published those thresholds.
The help centre also explains how the numbers are counted. Insights cover the past 28 days. For an online business, a mention counts when ChatGPT references the business’s website, and the brand name alone doesn’t count. For a local business, a mention counts whenever ChatGPT shows a result for that location, even if nobody opens the listing. A blank metric doesn’t necessarily mean zero activity; it can also mean activity hasn’t reached the reporting threshold or data is still being collected.
Business Agents
After claiming, eligible organisations can build, test and launch a Business Agent. When a business appears in a model response, people can click through to its ChatGPT profile. If a Business Agent is available, they can start a conversation with the business to explore its offerings and ask follow-up questions, using information the business provides.
“The Business Agent conversation is clearly labeled, separate from the customer’s original ChatGPT conversation, and distinct from ChatGPT’s independent answers.”
OpenAI
Business Agents are now available to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States. OpenAI’s “eligible categories” link points to its Business Agents policy, which does not publish a full category list. That policy says OpenAI considers both the business category and the agent’s intended use before allowing publication, may defer a category, and that “Business verification alone does not guarantee agent eligibility.”
The policy also requires an agent to be clear that it is AI representing the business, and not to appear as an independent adviser, a human, or endorsed by OpenAI. Agents must not give advice that legally requires a professional licence, automate high-stakes decisions without human review, or claim professional credentials. They must not pressure people, create false urgency, or keep pushing a sale after someone declines. They also must not share a user’s information with the business, or submit a form, booking or purchase on the user’s behalf, without explicit authorisation through an approved feature.
For now, a Business Agent can explain products and policies and link to the business’s website, but it can’t complete purchases, make bookings or check a customer’s order. Shopify isn’t required. Businesses preview the agent with common customer questions, then choose whether to publish it. Claiming a business, publishing an agent and advertising are separate steps, according to the help centre.
Sponsored placements
Businesses can also sponsor their Business Agent and use it as the destination for ChatGPT Ads. OpenAI says sponsored placements are clearly labelled and separate from ChatGPT responses. Sponsored Agents were already being tested with select US advertisers in a 16 September advertising update. OpenAI’s announcement presents the Business Agent as a destination for those ads.
What was already reported
Earlier reporting, based on screenshots shared by Juozas Kaziukėnas, described a Business Hub still marked unreleased, including mention and click counts and a business agent that would answer questions using information supplied by the business. OpenAI’s announcement confirms those elements and sets out who can use them.
ChatGPT already has other ways for businesses to appear, including Shopify product discovery and a native OpenTable booking integration. Those are separate from claiming a profile in Business Hub.
What’s next
OpenAI calls the launch “an early step” and says it plans to expand Businesses in ChatGPT and Business Agents to more markets and business categories, and to build tools for organisations with more complex needs. It has not given a timetable or a price for the beta.
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