OpenAI is testing a sponsored AI agent format with a subset of US advertisers, according to reporting by The Information. When a ChatGPT user clicks an ad, instead of landing on a page they open a conversation with the advertiser's AI agent and can ask follow-up questions about the product or service.
For two decades the destination of a paid click has been a page. This test replaces the page with a dialogue.
OpenAI stated in a blog post that the sponsored conversation runs separately from whatever ChatGPT conversation the user was already having. The brand thread opens in its own context.
That separation cuts both ways for advertisers. You cannot lean on what the user was just asking about to borrow context — but you also get to design the opening state of the conversation completely.
OpenAI is extending the Ads Manager dashboard it introduced in May with prompt-driven campaign management. Advertisers also get assistance generating ad copy and imagery.
OpenAI adapts ad headlines to the topic of the conversation and translates them into the user's language. That removes the need to rebuild creative per market — and it also means copy the brand never explicitly approved can appear in front of users.
Both Google and Meta are expanding AI-driven ad creation and customer chat features. Generative creative plus a conversational post-click surface is not one platform's experiment; it is where the category is heading. Snap has been arguing the same case from the media side, as covered in Snap's Evan Spiegel Bets on 'Generative Advertising' to Create Demand, Not Just Capture It.
When the destination changes, so does the asset list. Headline, hero image, and a form get replaced by anticipated questions and answers, factual product data on price, stock, and shipping, and an explicit rule for when to hand off to a human.
Without clean product data behind the answers, the agent cannot sell. The data groundwork described in What Brands Need to Win in Agentic Commerce: Connect Scattered Customer Data First is effectively the entry requirement for this ad format.
The test is limited to select US advertisers and no wider rollout date has been announced. But since the prerequisite is data rather than creative, there is little reason to wait for the announcement.
It is an ad format where clicking the ad opens a conversation with the advertiser's AI agent instead of sending the user to a landing page. Users can ask follow-up questions about the product or service.
No. OpenAI has said the sponsored agent conversation runs separately from the ChatGPT conversation the user was already having.
Through the Ads Manager dashboard OpenAI released in May, using prompts to manage campaigns, with support for generating ad copy and images. OpenAI also rewrites and translates headlines to match the conversation topic and the user's language.
Not yet. It is currently a test with select US advertisers, and no broader availability date has been announced.
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