What if, tomorrow, an ad in ChatGPT no longer simply packed you off to a brand's website, but could answer your questions itself? That's exactly what OpenAI has started trialling in the United States with Sponsored Agents, a new ad format that goes beyond dangling a sponsored link in front of you and turns the advert into a genuine interaction — and, above all, the starting point of a conversation. So how does it actually work? Essentially, some US users may now see an ad inviting them to chat directly with an agent funded by the advertiser. The agent in question is clearly flagged as sponsored and runs separately from your normal ChatGPT conversation.
An ad that answers your questions
To illustrate the feature, OpenAI uses the example of a dining table spotted in an ad. Rather than clicking through to a product page to find out its dimensions, its materials or how many people it seats, the user can simply put their questions to the sponsored agent. The difference may sound subtle, but it completely changes how advertising works. Until now, the ad has essentially been a gateway to the advertiser's website. With this new format, the ad becomes a conversational interface. OpenAI does insist on keeping the two kinds of conversation apart, however. That means sponsored agents are separate from ChatGPT's own answers and from the user's personal conversation. The American company takes the opportunity to state that ads do not influence the responses ChatGPT generates and that advertisers have no access to users' conversations (sure...).
For now, only a limited number of US advertisers are taking part in the test, but OpenAI has invited other companies to apply for the next testing phases. Rest easy: no rollout timetable for Europe has been announced as yet.
OpenAI also wants to make life easier for advertisers
Alongside this, OpenAI has decided to beef up its "Ads Manager" with several tools designed to automate part of an advertiser's workload. The platform now lets you create, edit and analyse campaigns straight from simple prompts. The tool can also generate suggested copy and visuals based on the landing page and the campaign's objective. The advertiser remains in control, though, and can amend or reject the suggestions before they go live.
These announcements come just a few weeks after OpenAI opened up its ad business in Europe, followed by its self-service launch for French advertisers at the end of August. But the question on everyone's lips at this stage is how the public will react to this new form of advertising. It may not be intrusive, but there's a clear intent to dissolve the advertising into the ChatGPT conversational experience. There are going to be some changes over the next few years, that's for sure.
