OpenAI Expands ChatGPT Ads With Sponsored Agents, HubSpot and Shopify Integrations

What Is Actually Changing

The update has three distinct layers: a new ad format called Sponsored Agents, AI-assisted tools for campaign creation and management, and platform integrations with HubSpot and Shopify.

Each layer targets a different part of the advertising workflow, from how users encounter ads to how marketers build and manage campaigns.

Sponsored Agents: A New Ad Format

Sponsored Agents are currently being tested with select advertisers in the US. When a user clicks on a relevant ad within ChatGPT, they enter a clearly labelled conversation with a business-sponsored agent. That agent can answer product questions, help the user explore their requirements, and direct them to the advertiser’s website when they are ready to act.

OpenAI has been explicit that these conversations remain separate from ChatGPT’s own responses and from the user’s original conversation thread. That separation appears to be the mechanism for maintaining trust — users know when they are talking to a brand, not the model.

For advertisers, this format is closer to an interactive product consultation than a traditional display ad. Whether users engage with it that way in practice remains to be seen.

Campaign Creation and Management With AI

On the advertiser side, OpenAI is introducing natural-language campaign creation and management through an Ads Manager plugin for ChatGPT. Advertisers can describe a campaign using a brief or website URL, review performance data, and receive recommendations — all through conversational prompts.

AI assistance is also being added directly inside Ads Manager itself:

• AI-generated copy and imagery based on landing page content and campaign objectives, editable before use
• AI-powered text customisation that adapts headlines and descriptions to the context of a specific conversation
• Automatic translation of ad copy into a user’s preferred language

These tools reduce the manual effort involved in creating and iterating on campaigns, though the quality of AI-generated suggestions will depend heavily on the input material advertisers provide.

HubSpot and Shopify Integrations

The platform integrations are arguably the most immediately practical part of this update for performance marketers.

HubSpot users can connect their ChatGPT Ads account to create campaigns, track performance, and manage leads without leaving HubSpot. For teams already running inbound workflows there, this reduces the friction of managing a separate ad platform.

Shopify merchants in the US can install the ChatGPT Ads app and connect their product catalogue directly through Shopify Catalogue. Campaign creation and management happen within the Shopify environment. The integration is scheduled to expand internationally to all markets where ChatGPT Ads are available from September 23.

Both integrations follow a familiar pattern in adtech: meet advertisers inside the tools they already use rather than requiring them to adopt a new standalone platform.

What This Means for Marketers Evaluating ChatGPT Ads

A few practical considerations worth keeping in mind:

• Sponsored Agents are still in testing. Broader availability, pricing, and performance benchmarks are not yet established. Early adopters will be working with limited comparative data.
• The HubSpot and Shopify integrations lower the barrier to entry for teams already on those platforms. If you are running ecommerce or inbound marketing workflows, the integration path appears straightforward.
• AI-generated ad copy is a starting point, not a finished product. The review-and-edit workflow OpenAI describes is the right approach — treating AI suggestions as a draft layer rather than a final output.
• The separation between sponsored and organic responses is a structural choice that matters for user trust. How consistently that separation is maintained at scale will be worth watching.

The Broader Picture

OpenAI is building a commercial layer on top of ChatGPT that goes beyond subscriptions. Sponsored Agents, in particular, represent a format that does not exist in traditional search or social advertising — a brand-controlled conversational agent embedded within a general-purpose AI interface.

Whether that format delivers measurable results for advertisers will determine how quickly it scales. For now, the HubSpot and Shopify integrations offer a lower-risk entry point: familiar tools, familiar workflows, with ChatGPT Ads as an additional channel to test.

Teams evaluating this update should focus less on the format novelty and more on whether the integration fits their existing stack and whether the audience reach in ChatGPT aligns with their customer profile.