Businesses in ChatGPT: claim your company's profile, and US online sellers can put an agent in front of customers

On 10 November 2026 OpenAI introduced Businesses in ChatGPT in beta. OpenAI puts ChatGPT's weekly users at 1.2 billion, and describes the change as a new way for businesses to reach them. It runs through Business Hub, at chatgpt.com/business-hub.

In Business Hub, a company claims its organisation in ChatGPT. Once verified, it can update key details and add self-service product feeds with pricing and availability. OpenAI's product page says ChatGPT may use a retailer's feed to answer customer questions.

A claimed profile shows a blue check. Claiming is open first to eligible businesses with a website. OpenAI says ChatGPT keeps making independent recommendations and comparisons, and that claiming does not guarantee higher placement or sales.

Any eligible business located where ChatGPT is available can claim. Who is eligible depends on industry, location and OpenAI's verification and integrity checks. You must own the business or be authorised to act for it. Existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers can claim through their OpenAI representative.

Shopify merchants can connect their store from Business Hub or the Shopify admin to make verification simpler. Product details, pricing and availability then come across from Shopify's catalogue. Eligible Shopify products are already in ChatGPT through Shopify Catalog, and a business can claim without a Shopify store.

Business Hub shows aggregated insights, such as the number of mentions and website clicks a business receives. It also lists discovery topics, which are the common themes in conversations where the business's website is cited. OpenAI says it doesn't share users' conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses, and insights appear only above certain thresholds.

The Businesses in ChatGPT policy, updated 10 November 2026, asks for profile information that is truthful and kept current. That covers the business name, category, address or service area, hours, contact details, and products or services.

The policy bars false or misleading claims about prices, availability, qualifications or likely results. It also bars fabricated reviews or endorsements, unsupported guarantees and claims that hide material terms such as fees. Impersonation and fake or duplicate profiles are not allowed.

Profiles may also include information from other sources. OpenAI may decline a request, remove content or a profile, or limit who manages it. The policy says businesses stay responsible for what they provide, although OpenAI does not verify every detail or resolve every factual dispute.

A claimed profile gives a business one place to correct what ChatGPT shows about its name, hours, products and contacts, with a blue check and the aggregated insights.

Profiles can include information from other sources, and ChatGPT may show information about a business whether or not it has an agent, so a business with no plans for an agent still has details to check.

The product feed is one more place where prices and terms must match the website. A feed left out of step can put a wrong price into a ChatGPT answer. The policy keeps the business responsible for what it provides.

The insights are aggregated and appear only above a threshold OpenAI hasn't published. A smaller business may see little at first, and no business sees individual conversations.

After claiming, eligible organisations can build, test and launch a Business Agent. Agents are available now to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States. OpenAI says access will expand to more types of business over time, and gives no dates.

When a business appears in a ChatGPT answer, a person can click through to its ChatGPT profile. If the business has an agent, the customer can choose to start a conversation with it. OpenAI says that conversation is labelled, kept apart from the customer's original chat and distinct from ChatGPT's independent answers.

The agent answers questions from the business's product and policy information, using guidelines the business controls. A Shopify merchant connects the store, reviews the business information, then previews and publishes the agent.

A business can sponsor its agent and use it as the destination for ChatGPT Ads. OpenAI says sponsored placements are labelled and kept apart from ChatGPT's answers.

The Business Agents Policy, updated 10 November 2026, covers an agent's instructions, information, links, forms and tools. OpenAI's Usage Policies, the Businesses in ChatGPT policy and its Commerce policies for product feeds also apply. Advertising policies may apply when an agent is promoted through an ad.

An agent must be clear that it is AI representing the business. The policy bars presenting it as an independent adviser, as a human or as having OpenAI's approval. OpenAI looks at the business category and the agent's intended use before allowing publication, and verification alone doesn't make a business eligible.

The owner may not tell the agent to invent offerings, prices, availability, credentials, reviews, guarantees or results. The owner also may not hide material fees, conditions or limits that matter to a user's question. The agent must not pressure people, create false urgency, exploit vulnerability or keep pushing a sale or follow-up after someone declines.

The agent can offer an optional follow-up and collect needed contact details through an approved feature, when the user chooses to give them. It must not ask for personal information it doesn't need. Nor may it ask for high-risk details such as health, protected traits, government IDs, or financial or sign-in credentials. It may not use such details to tailor a sales pitch.

The agent needs the user's explicit go-ahead, through an approved feature, before it passes their details to the business. The same applies before it fills in a form, makes a booking or buys anything for them. It must not give advice that legally needs a professional licence, automate high-stakes decisions without human review or claim professional credentials.

The rules apply when an agent is created and at every update. OpenAI may suspend or remove an agent, limit its features or stop a business creating or managing agents. The policy says businesses are responsible for the information and instructions they provide.

For a US online seller, a Business Agent puts the company's own answers inside ChatGPT, in a labelled conversation a customer chooses to open. Its answers come from the product and policy information the business supplies, so that information needs an owner and a review date.

Much of the policy turns into lines the agent's guidelines must contain and tests it must pass. The agent says it is AI, quotes only real prices and states material fees. It stops selling after a no and asks for nothing beyond needed contact details.

Our reading is that a regulated firm's compliance team is likely to want to read both policies before an agent goes live. The business stays responsible for what the agent is told to say, and OpenAI checks the category and intended use before publication.

Sponsoring the agent through ChatGPT Ads may bring advertising policies in as well. Marketing and compliance can then agree one set of claims for the ad, the profile and the agent.

Business Agents are open only to eligible US ecommerce and online service businesses for now. A UK or Gulf firm can still prepare. It can claim its profile where it is eligible, correct its facts and draft the rules an agent would follow.