OpenAI Lets Shops Claim ChatGPT Profiles and Run Their Own Agents
In short
- OpenAI lets verified businesses claim a profile in ChatGPT and run a Business Agent that chats with shoppers. Beta, announced November 10.
- Business Agents start with eligible US e-commerce and online service businesses. Shopify stores can connect directly.
- The money angle: your product feed and prices now feed the place where people ask what to buy, and you can pay to sponsor your agent.
People already ask ChatGPT what to buy. Now the shops get a seat at that table. OpenAI opened business profiles and customer-facing agents on Tuesday. Is it free? OpenAI did not say.
What happened
OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT, in beta. Through a tool called Business Hub, a company can claim its business, get verified and update its key details. It can also upload a product feed with prices and availability.
The second part is Business Agents. A user can open a chat with an agent that represents one specific business and ask about its products or services. The first rollout covers eligible e-commerce and online service businesses in the US. Existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers can claim through their OpenAI representative. Shopify merchants can connect from Business Hub or from the Shopify admin.
Businesses also see aggregated insights: mentions, views and website clicks. OpenAI says it does not hand over users’ conversations or agent chats to businesses. And yes, ads are part of it. A business can sponsor its Business Agent as a destination for ChatGPT Ads, and sponsored placements are labeled.
How to use it
- Clean your product feed first. Wrong prices or stock status will now show up inside an AI answer.
- If you run Shopify in the US, connect the store and claim the profile before your competitors do.
- Write down the ten questions customers ask before buying. Those are the answers your agent must get right.
- Watch the insight numbers for two weeks before you pay for any sponsored placement.
Do the math: imagine you spend 10 hours a week answering pre-sale questions by chat and email. At €12 an hour that is €120 a week, about €480 a month. If an agent handles a third of them, you save roughly €160 a month. These are my assumptions. OpenAI has not published a price for the agents.
What it means
Search used to send people to your site. Now the answer is given inside ChatGPT, and the shop that feeds it clean data gets recommended. That is a new kind of SEO, and a new ad slot next to it. The winners are shops with good data and fast agents. The losers are shops that ignore it until the traffic drops.
Read also: OpenAI Cuts Its AI Off the Internet – Fence Your Agents Too · OpenAI Reportedly Raises $11B at $1.25T, Below What It Wanted · Only 4 Uber Rides Were Booked by AI Agents in Its Busiest Week
Ivan’s Take
Smart move by OpenAI, because it gets paid twice: from the data and from the ads. If you sell online in the US, claim your profile now, it costs you a feed and an hour. Outside the US, wait for the rollout and use the time to fix your product data.
Source: Reuters
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