ChatGPT is going to let you chat with verified “Business Agents” that represent a brand to help you with things like comparison shopping. The feature, available first to “eligible” e-commerce and online service businesses in the US, is launching as part of a suite of business-focused features in ChatGPT being announced today in beta.
You can start talking with a Business Agent if a business that has created one appears in a response from ChatGPT. While chatting with a custom agent, you can ask about a business’s offerings and ask follow-up questions, like asking about differences between two different products. Businesses can specify a Business Agent’s instructions and provide business context so that the agent knows how to respond.
Chats with Business Agents will be clearly labeled and separate from your main ChatGPT conversation, OpenAI says. To help people know that they’re talking with an agent that actually represents the business, companies will be able to claim their organization and get verified through a feature called Business Hub. (OpenAI isn’t sharing specifics about its verification methods because there are different methods for different businesses, VP of monetization Benji Shomair said in a press briefing.) Business Hub will also let companies see insights such as mentions in ChatGPT responses and top “discovery topics” where their business pops up.
“Today’s announcement is an early step in bringing businesses more deeply into ChatGPT,” OpenAI says in a blog post. “We’re starting with the foundations: accurate business information, useful insights and conversations that help people make informed decisions.” As things evolve, “we’ll explore more ways for businesses to connect with customers — directly or through agents and in ChatGPT and beyond. Our goal is to make ChatGPT more useful for people making decisions, and give businesses new ways to participate and grow.”