OpenAI is testing ads that open a conversation with a brand’s AI agent inside ChatGPT, giving advertisers a way to handle customer questions before anyone reaches their website.
According to Digiday’s September 14 report, the format has been introduced to selected clients. A button such as “Chat with us” takes the user into a branded conversation within ChatGPT. Digiday says it reviewed and verified video of the experience.
Wayfair confirmed its participation to Digiday, describing a limited Sponsored Agent pilot with safeguards covering product accuracy, transparency and handoffs to service teams. OpenAI did not respond to the publication’s request for comment.
The sales pitch moves off the landing page
OpenAI had already outlined this direction in its January advertising announcement, suggesting that users would eventually be able to ask an ad questions to help them decide what to buy. In its August 31 update, it again said it would explore more native ways for businesses to interact with consumers inside ChatGPT.
For advertisers, the practical change is where part of the selling happens. A landing page normally has to anticipate a visitor’s questions through product descriptions, specifications and FAQs. A conversational destination could let the visitor ask directly.
Consider a furniture shopper checking whether a desk fits an awkward corner. An effective agent could clarify the measurements before directing them toward a purchase. An unreliable one could misstate a dimension or delivery condition. Those are illustrative possibilities, rather than observed results from this pilot.
That makes the quality of the agent’s answers part of the advertising experience. Campaign teams would need to assess the information behind those answers alongside the creative that gets people to click.
Talking to the brand changes what it can see
OpenAI’s advertising FAQ already distinguishes between private ChatGPT conversations and messages deliberately sent to an advertiser. It says advertisers cannot access users’ private chats, histories or memories. But when someone chooses to message an advertiser through an ad, the advertiser can see the messages sent directly to it.
The same FAQ describes a separate “Ask ChatGPT” feature, which lets someone share an ad with ChatGPT and ask about it. OpenAI says advertisers do not influence those responses.
That distinction matters here: asking ChatGPT to assess an offer and entering a conversation with the seller’s agent serve different purposes. The interface needs to make clear which conversation the user has entered, particularly when both happen in the same app.
An ad click no longer guarantees a website visit
OpenAI’s existing conversion measurement documentation explains how advertisers report purchases and leads through its Pixel, Conversions API or both. It also describes a click reference added to landing-page URLs that helps connect subsequent activity to an ad.
That documentation does not establish how the Sponsored Agent pilot measures the extra conversation before a possible website visit. Digiday’s report does not specify its pricing or detailed reporting capabilities.
Advertisers evaluating this format would need to distinguish between a conversation starting, a shopper reaching their site and a purchase completing. A chat could answer a useful question without producing an immediate visit; it could also add another step where a potential customer drops out. Counting chat openings alone would leave that difference unresolved.
SEW’s guide to running ChatGPT ads explains how to evaluate website campaigns against actual purchases or qualified leads. A conversational campaign needs the same commercial discipline, with visibility into what happens between the ad interaction and the eventual outcome.
For now, the evidence establishes a limited pilot. It does not establish that the format is generally available or that a branded AI conversation produces better sales results than a website destination.
Start the conversation by posting the first comment