ChatGPT Is Testing Ads You Can Chat With

OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents inside ChatGPT. After you click an ad, you can start a chat with an agent paid for by a business.

The test is limited to select advertisers in the United States. Chats with Sponsored Agents are clearly labeled. A chat with a Sponsored Agent is separate from ChatGPT's own answers and separate from your original ChatGPT chat, according to OpenAI.

Clicking the ad does not continue your current chat. It opens a different, labeled chat run as a paid experience. The ad does not send you to a web page. It starts a conversation, like talking to a store helper instead of being sent to another aisle.

This test is part of a bigger change in how ads are made and managed. Advertisers can use normal written instructions to create, update and check campaigns directly in ChatGPT with the Ads Manager plugin, an extra tool inside ChatGPT. The work stays in the chat. A marketer can describe a goal, ask for changes, or ask how ads are doing without leaving ChatGPT.

OpenAI has also added AI help in Ads Manager that suggests ad words and pictures based on the business web page and ad goal. A separate opt-in setting changes headlines and short descriptions to fit the chat topic and translates ad words into the user's preferred language. The first tool helps write the ad before it runs. The second changes the wording when the ad is shown.

Ads are also being linked to tools businesses already use. HubSpot, software for tracking customers, is OpenAI's first CRM partner for ChatGPT Ads. Businesses can link a ChatGPT Ads account in HubSpot to make ads, track results and follow up with possible customers without leaving HubSpot. Shopify, software for running online shops, is OpenAI's first ecommerce partner. U.S. Shopify sellers can use the new ChatGPT Ads app in the Shopify App Store to make and manage ChatGPT ad campaigns.

OpenAI lists the update as 'Reimagining advertising with AI' on its OpenAI News page, where it is dated Sep 16, 2026 and categorized as Product. The company also hosts a page titled 'ChatGPT Ads, a new channel for marketers' on its webinar subdomain.

Scale and expansion

ChatGPT Ads has reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate, which estimates a full year of sales from recent numbers, OpenAI said on Aug. 31. ChatGPT Ads will expand to 31 European countries, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, according to an Aug. 18 update.

Earlier steps show the growth. OpenAI planned to test ads at the bottom of answers when there is a relevant paid product or service based on the current chat. On May 7, 2026, the company said it planned to expand the pilot in the coming weeks to the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and Japan. It later planned to show ads to all users of the free and Go versions of ChatGPT in the United States in the coming weeks.

The U.S. pilot grew to over 600 advertisers and passed $100 million in annualized revenue within its first six weeks. Nearly 80% of small- and medium-sized businesses showed interest in ChatGPT ads in that period.

What changes for practitioners

The broader context here is a change from old paid links to ads inside conversations. Search ads linked typed words to bids. Social ads linked user profiles to feeds. ChatGPT ads link the chat topic to different versions of an ad, and Sponsored Agents go one step further by making what happens after the click a conversation.

In my view, the practical questions will be familiar to anyone who lived through the PC, web, mobile and cloud changes. Measurement comes first. Ads made from instructions, with changed headlines and translated versions, will be harder to track unless sales links in tools like HubSpot and purchase data from Shopify do their job. Safety for brands comes second. Clear labels and separate chats help, but paid chats raise new questions about how labels stay visible, how the agent says no, and how much it can do in fixing problems, giving advice or selling before it must hand off.

Worth flagging for business teams is the direction of these tools. Managing ads with plain writing makes it easier to start. It also puts key knowledge about customers, budgets and testing into instructions and tool records. Teams that save those instructions, keep what works and check AI-suggested words and pictures with the same care as code will adjust faster than teams that treat the chat box as a shortcut.

From what I have seen at home, I have watched my own children move from typing questions to expecting answers to expecting action, often without noticing the change. That is the pattern to watch. If paid chats help with simple tasks like sizing, checking if products work together or rebooking, people may accept them as they once accepted paid results that solved a problem. If they feel evasive or pushy, a label alone will not save them.

Looking ahead, the long trend still points to more helpful assistants, and shopping by chat could benefit. Sponsored Agents are early, limited and clearly marked. The setup around them, from Ads Manager instructions to customer and store links, points to campaigns that are written, shown, measured and completed without leaving a chat.