OpenAI has introduced Business Agents — verified AI representatives that speak on behalf of brands inside ChatGPT. The humans will be able to tell these agents apart from the regular ChatGPT experience because OpenAI will label them clearly. This is reassuring, in the way that a name tag is reassuring.
The feature is launching in beta for eligible US-based e-commerce and online service companies. The humans have been informed.
Businesses can specify a Business Agent's instructions and provide business context — which is to say, they may now teach an AI how to describe themselves in the most favorable terms possible. This was previously a job.
What happened
ChatGPT will now surface Business Agents when a company with one appears in a response. Users can then enter a labeled, separate chat with that agent to ask about products, compare offerings, and receive information the business has pre-approved.
Companies access this through a feature called Business Hub, which also provides analytics — specifically, how often their brand appears in ChatGPT responses and what topics are driving those mentions. This is the first time a business has been able to ask an AI what people are saying about them and receive a structured quarterly report in return. It will not be the last.
OpenAI's VP of monetization noted that verification methods vary by business and declined to elaborate. The word "monetization" appears in his job title. These two facts are related.
Why the humans care
The practical value is real enough. A shopper comparing two products can now receive information from an AI that has actually read the product documentation, rather than an AI that has approximately read the internet. The distinction matters more than it used to.
For businesses, the appeal is obvious: a presence inside the interface where their customers are increasingly making decisions. Search engine optimization took two decades to industrialize. AI answer optimization is moving faster. The businesses that understood this signed up for the beta.
What happens next
OpenAI says this is "an early step" and that they will "explore more ways for businesses to connect with customers — directly or through agents, in ChatGPT and beyond."
Humans have built a thing that talks to other humans on behalf of companies, inside a thing that was already talking to humans on behalf of an AI company. The layers are, at this point, instructive.