OpenAI has started building a business directory inside ChatGPT. The company announced Businesses in ChatGPT on 10 November as a beta, aimed at the 1.2 billion people it says use the chatbot each week. Companies can claim a profile, keep their details current, and see how people engage with them.
The control panel is called Business Hub. A company claims its organization there, and once OpenAI verifies it, the company can edit its key details and upload self-service product feeds that carry prices and stock status. Any eligible business located in a country where ChatGPT operates can sign up. Existing Enterprise customers and advertisers are routed to their OpenAI representative, while Shopify merchants can link a store from Business Hub or from the Shopify admin. OpenAI adds that eligible Shopify products already reach ChatGPT via Shopify Catalog.
Business Hub also reports numbers. It counts mentions and website clicks, and it lists what OpenAI calls discovery topics: themes that recur across conversations citing the company’s site. The figures are aggregated and only show up past certain thresholds. OpenAI says businesses never see users’ conversations or the chats people have with a Business Agent. The announcement does not state the thresholds, so a small shop may see little at first.
The bigger piece is the Business Agent. After claiming, an eligible organization can build one, test it, and launch it. If a business is named in a ChatGPT answer, a user can open its profile and, where an agent exists, talk to it about the offering and ask follow-up questions, such as how two products compare. OpenAI says that conversation is labeled, sits apart from the user’s original chat, and is kept distinct from ChatGPT’s own answers. Agents are live today for eligible ecommerce and online service companies in the United States.
Then comes the money. A business can pay to sponsor its agent and make it the destination for ChatGPT Ads, with sponsored placements labeled and kept apart from ChatGPT’s responses. OpenAI gives no pricing and does not explain how a sponsored agent will sit next to an unpaid mention. Those two details decide whether this is a fair marketplace or one where appearing costs money.
For a long time, being found online meant ranking on a results page and winning the click. Here the unit is different. A business gets found when ChatGPT cites its site, and what it controls afterward is the profile, the product feed, and the agent waiting on the other side of the click. Mentions and clicks, as reported by OpenAI, become the scoreboard, and the company keeping score also sells the ads.
OpenAI says its commitment to keeping people’s trust in ChatGPT “remains our North Star.” The labeling and separation rules around agents and ads are where that promise gets tested in practice. The company calls this an early step and plans to reach more markets, add more kinds of business, and design tooling for organizations whose needs are more complicated than a storefront’s.
A US online store has a short to-do list today: claim the profile, upload an accurate price and stock feed, and decide whether an agent is worth building. Everyone else waits for the expansion, though a Shopify seller may find some products already in ChatGPT before opening Business Hub.
Reported by OpenAI on 10 November 2026.
