OpenAI is showing select advertisers a ChatGPT ad format that turns the click into a chat with the brand’s own AI agent instead of a trip to its website, according to Digiday, which viewed the format on video. The ad carries a button reading something like “Chat with us,” and pressing it opens a branded chat inside ChatGPT, a step past the plain ads OpenAI already runs beneath responses for people on the free and Go tiers. Wayfair confirmed it’s in the pilot, which OpenAI calls Sponsored Agent, and said it’s testing at small scale with guardrails on accuracy, transparency and handoffs to service. Agency buyers say the returns on ChatGPT ads haven’t shown up yet, so spending stays in experimental budgets, and retailers still want shoppers on their own sites where they collect the data.
