ChatGPT will let verified brand agents join the conversation — US only for now

A familiar scenario: you ask ChatGPT which vacuum cleaner or phone plan to choose, get a neat list, and then head off to brand websites and compare everything by hand across ten tabs. OpenAI wants to shorten that path. If a company that has its own agent comes up in a ChatGPT answer, you can talk to that agent right there. This is no longer just a model retelling the internet, but a representative of a specific brand.

How it works

The feature is called Business Agents and is launching in beta. At first it is available to "eligible" online stores and online services in the US. The mechanics are simple. A business creates an agent and gives it instructions and context: what we sell, how we respond, what we talk about. If such a company is mentioned in a ChatGPT answer, the user can start a conversation with its agent.

Imagine a coffee machine store. You ask ChatGPT what to get for your home, and a brand with an agent appears in the answer. From there you can ask follow-up questions: how model A differs from model B, what comes in the box. This is exactly the example The Verge gives: questions about the product range and about differences between two products.

An important detail: the conversation with the agent is labeled and separated from the main ChatGPT thread. The user should understand that they are now talking not to a neutral assistant, but to a brand representative.

Business Hub: verification and analytics

So that trust in such a label does not turn out to be empty, OpenAI is introducing Business Hub. In it, a company claims its organization and goes through verification so that the agent actually represents the business rather than an impostor. OpenAI does not say how exactly the checks work. Benji Shomair, vice president of monetization, explained at a briefing that the methods differ for different types of companies.

The second part of the Hub is analytics. A business will see how often it is mentioned in ChatGPT answers and by which "discovery topics" it is found. This is the seed of what search has long called SEO reports, only now for results inside a chatbot.

In its blog, OpenAI calls the announcement an "early step" and lists the foundation: accurate information about the business, useful analytics, and conversations that help people make decisions. The company then promises to look for ways to connect with customers "directly or through agents, in ChatGPT and beyond."

What remains unclear

There are plenty of limitations. This is a beta, and only for the US. The criteria for "eligible" businesses have not been disclosed. About verification, all we know is that it will exist. The material says nothing about an API, integration with a catalog or payments, which means it is too early to judge how capable the agent is of actually selling something rather than just answering.

The question of balancing interests also remains. A brand's agent is by definition interested in selling its own product. The label and the separate chat help users understand this, but they do not answer the question of how OpenAI will monitor the honesty of answers. If the agent gets specifications or terms wrong, who is responsible is not specified.

What to do about it

If you are a product manager or founder in e-commerce or an online service, the takeaways are practical, even if you are not in the US:

• Check how accurately your business is described in public sources: ChatGPT relies on them when deciding whether to mention you.
• Prepare material for the agent: clear product descriptions, comparisons with alternatives, answers to frequent questions, and rules on what the agent must not talk about.
• Watch how OpenAI reveals the Business Hub metrics. If "discovery topics" turn out to be useful, they will become a new point for measuring visibility alongside search.

For developers, the main signal is that the chatbot is becoming yet another storefront where brands compete for attention. For now it is a beta with unknown rules, but the direction is clear: the AI assistant takes on the role of intermediary, and businesses get an official way to join that conversation.