OpenAI has launched a new set of business tools inside ChatGPT, letting companies claim a profile on the chatbot and talk directly to shoppers through AI agents that speak for the brand. The feature, called Businesses in ChatGPT, arrived in beta on Tuesday, 10 November 2026.

At the centre of the launch is Business Hub, a self-service tool where a company can claim its business, verify that it owns it and then manage the information ChatGPT shows about it. Once verified, a business can update its details and add product feeds carrying prices and availability, so the answers people see reflect what the company itself has supplied.

Business Agents answer shoppers inside ChatGPT

The second part of the launch is Business Agents. These are chat agents that represent a business inside ChatGPT, and people can use them to ask about products and services, compare options and get follow-up answers. The agents are clearly labelled and kept separate from the user's main ChatGPT conversation.

For now, Business Agents are available only to eligible e-commerce and online service businesses in the United States. OpenAI has said it plans to widen the rollout to other types of business and more countries over time, but it has not given dates.

What businesses can see about their profile

Business Hub also gives companies their first proper view of how they appear in ChatGPT. The dashboard shows aggregated insights such as how often a business is mentioned in answers, how often its profile is viewed and which topics lead people to discover it. OpenAI said it does not share users' conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses, and that insights are only shown in aggregate once interactions pass certain thresholds.

Verification can be completed by text or phone call to the business's main number, or through domain verification. Existing OpenAI enterprise customers and advertisers can claim a profile through their OpenAI representative, while Shopify merchants can connect a store through Business Hub or from the Shopify admin panel.

A free route in, with paid ads alongside

The business agent is the free, organic way for a brand to appear in ChatGPT, according to Benji Shomair, OpenAI's vice president of monetisation. Businesses can also sponsor their agent so it can be used as the destination for ChatGPT Ads, with sponsored placements clearly labelled. OpenAI has not ruled out charging for Business Hub features in future, but for now the tools are free.

The launch puts OpenAI in direct competition with Google, which launched its own Business Agent feature in search results earlier this year. With OpenAI saying 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week, how a business appears inside the chatbot is fast becoming as important as how it appears in a search engine.

Sources: Reuters and Digiday.