Until now, an ad ended with the click. Anyone who wanted to know more ended up on a landing page and looked for answers there themselves. Since 16 September 2026, OpenAI has been testing a format that reverses this order: Sponsored Agents. After clicking on an ad in ChatGPT, the user can start a conversation with an AI representative of the advertising company – ask questions, explain requirements, follow up – and only switch to the website when they want to.
The format is in a narrowly limited alpha test with selected advertisers in the USA. Nevertheless, it is worth taking a look now – for two reasons. First, the announcement came in a package with a whole bundle of new features in ChatGPT Ads Manager that also affect accounts in Germany. Second, a talking ad agent shifts responsibility: the advertiser is liable for every answer the agent gives. We explain what is known, what is not – and what small and medium-sized enterprises can prepare today.
1. What Sponsored Agents are – and what happened on 16 September
OpenAI describes Sponsored Agents as an ad format that lets people in ChatGPT talk to an AI representative of a company. The entry point is a normal ad. For some users who see it, there is also the option of opening a clearly labelled conversation with the agent sponsored by the company. There they can ask questions about products or services and at the end follow a link to the website.
The key facts from the announcement and OpenAI’s Help Center: the test is running with selected advertisers in the USA. The Help Center speaks of a “limited alpha test”. OpenAI is currently not accepting requests for early access; details on expansion are to follow. Users can already see Sponsored Agents in ChatGPT, even if the format is not available for their own campaigns.
In short: Sponsored Agents move the sales conversation to before the website visit – into an environment that the advertiser configures but does not control word for word. For the USA a test, for Germany a preview of what comes next after the launch of ChatGPT Ads in August.
2. How it works: ad, conversation, website
OpenAI illustrates the format with a buyer looking for a dining table who asks about size, seating and care. The process has three stages, and each of them is relevant for measurement:
2.1 The ad
It appears as before in relevant conversations. The only new feature is the option to open a conversation from the ad. According to OpenAI, “some users” see this option – not everyone who sees the ad.
2.2 The sponsored conversation
The conversation is labelled and runs separately from the user’s original conversation and from ChatGPT’s independent answers. Users can explain what matters to them, ask follow-up questions and have options compared. The advertiser can see what users write to the agent – their private ChatGPT conversations, on the other hand, remain unreadable for advertisers.
2.3 The transition to the website
Only when the user is ready do they follow a link to the company’s website. That is the point at which your existing tracking kicks in. Everything before that takes place outside your domain – and that is precisely what makes evaluating the format demanding (see section 6).
3. “Ask ChatGPT” or Sponsored Agent: who is actually speaking?
ChatGPT Ads already had a conversation feature: “Ask ChatGPT”. It can be used to hand an ad over to the normal assistant to ask questions about it. The difference is fundamental: with “Ask ChatGPT”, the independent assistant answers, and OpenAI emphasises that advertisers cannot influence these answers. A Sponsored Agent, by contrast, represents the advertised company.
For the user, this is a different conversation. If you ask the neutral assistant whether a product is worth it, you expect a different answer from the one you get from the seller’s representative – even if both take place in the same interface. That is why OpenAI attaches importance to labelling and separating the conversations.
Schematic comparison based on information from OpenAI. As of: 22 September 2026.
4. Not just agents: the complete update package for Ads Manager
Sponsored Agents were the hook, but on the same day OpenAI informed advertisers by email about a whole series of new features. Some of them are more relevant for a German account today than the agent itself:
4.1 Conversion optimisation billed by impressions
This campaign type is now generally available. It optimises for conversions from clicks and from ad views, and is billed by impressions. OpenAI calls it the recommended model for maximum performance. If you have so far optimised purely for click conversions, you should compare the figures carefully before switching – view conversions value visual contact differently from a click.
4.2 Integrations: Shopify and HubSpot
US merchants on Shopify can use an app in the Shopify App Store to connect product catalogue and measurement, create campaigns and track results; according to OpenAI, international availability is planned for later this month. HubSpot users can connect a ChatGPT Ads account, create ads, track performance and follow up leads directly in HubSpot. For companies that manage enquiries in the CRM anyway, this is the more practical connection.
4.3 AI-assisted ad creation and text customisation
When creating an ad, the system suggests text and image based on the landing page and campaign objective; the advertiser reviews and edits before adopting them. This is still in the test phase. Already available is text customisation as an opt-in: it adapts headlines and descriptions to the context of the conversation and can translate ad copy into the user’s language. The switch remains with the advertiser.
5. The decisive sentence in the terms of use
OpenAI’s Ad Tools Terms contain a detail with consequences: even if OpenAI creates or configures a Sponsored Agent, the advertiser remains responsible for its content, configuration, actions and output – as if it had created them itself. This is a different quality from a classic ad, whose text is fixed before approval.
An agent improvises. It answers questions that nobody pre-formulated, and that is precisely where the risk arises: outdated offers, unclear product data, promises the company cannot keep. The classic example is the delivery question. An agent that confidently invents a delivery date can turn an otherwise successful campaign into complaints. For the German market, there are also the requirements for price information, cancellation policies and misleading advertising, which apply to an agent’s statements just as they do to any other business statement.
The consequence for the approval process: it is no longer enough to sign off the headline and landing page. If you run a Sponsored Agent, you have to test the conversation yourself – with the questions you would rather not have been asked.
6. Chat starts are not conversions: what you need to measure
At launch, OpenAI named neither conversion results nor format-specific prices nor a date for wider availability. This means that every advertiser has to answer the question of whether the format pays off for themselves – across the entire chain, not just at the beginning.
Two scenarios are equally plausible. A campaign with a Sponsored Agent could generate fewer website visits, but send better-informed buyers who convert faster. But it could also put an additional step in front of someone who wanted to buy anyway. Which scenario occurs only becomes clear when the conversation, the subsequent visit and the result are viewed together.
In practice this means: the transition link from the agent to the website needs its own campaign parameters so that these visitors can be distinguished in analytics from clicks on the ad. And the comparison must be based on deals or qualified enquiries per euro – not on the number of conversations started. How to separate AI traffic cleanly in GA4 in the first place is described in this article on the AI assistant channel.
7. What SMEs in Germany get out of it today
To be honest: nobody in Germany can currently book Sponsored Agents. The test is limited to the USA, and requests for early access are not possible. If you have been working with ChatGPT Ads in recent weeks – the launch in Germany was on 24 August 2026 – you will therefore continue to work with the existing formats.
What already counts now is the rest of the package. The new attribution windows and platform segmentation change how results in existing accounts are read; if you compare reports, you should check which window is set. The Event Quality Score shows whether the pixel and Conversions API are sending cleanly enough to be able to evaluate a format like Sponsored Agents later. And the HubSpot connection is more interesting for service providers with a lead process than for retail.
For companies that advertise on several channels, the following also applies: OpenAI is not the only provider making ads conversational. What advertising in AI answers means across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode is something we have already assessed.
8. The knowledge base an ad agent needs
An agent can only answer as well as the material it works with. That is the real preparation – and it is independent of whether Sponsored Agents come to Germany, because the same knowledge base also underpins a chatbot on your own website or the answers that AI systems give about your company.
8.1 What the agent needs to know
Product and service data in structured form, current prices with validity, delivery times and shipping conditions, availability, opening hours and catchment area, the most frequent customer questions with the answers your team actually gives. If this information is currently scattered across emails, PDF price lists and people’s heads, that is the first work step.
8.2 What the agent must not say
Just as important is the negative list: no delivery promises without a stock check, no statements on discounts outside the current promotion, no comparisons with competitors named by name, no health or efficacy claims. And a clear rule on when the agent refers to a human – for example for complaints or individual quotes.
8.3 The test protocol
Before an agent gets customer contact, it belongs on the test bench: with missing information, with outdated offers, with a request for a promise the company cannot give. What matters is not whether the answers sound convincing, but whether the agent stays honest when uncertain. Agencies that support the format carry out precisely this check on behalf of the client.
9. Checklist: what you can do this week
Would you like to align your ChatGPT Ads account with the new features or build a knowledge base for AI-supported customer conversations? Arrange a free initial consultation with our team.
10. Conclusion: the ad becomes a conversation – the responsibility stays with you
Sponsored Agents are the logical next step for an advertising platform that is itself a conversation. If users ask ChatGPT questions anyway, it makes sense that they would also want to ask the provider these questions – before visiting a website. Whether this becomes a relevant share of search budgets will be decided by a sober metric: how often the conversation leads to business.
For German companies, the format is a preview today, while the update package is the present. Attribution windows, platform segmentation, Event Quality Score and the new integrations affect running accounts. And preparing for the agent – a well-maintained knowledge base and an approval process that tests conversations – is not a bet on a single format, but the basis for any AI that speaks in your name.
Our assessment: the competitive advantage does not come from the earliest access to the format, but from the question of whether your company could give an agent the right answers today. If you can answer yes, you are prepared – for Sponsored Agents and for everything that comes after.
Read also: Ads in ChatGPT: five questions before the first euro and Using ChatGPT & co. properly in customer service.
11. FAQ: the most important questions about Sponsored Agents
What are Sponsored Agents in ChatGPT?
Sponsored Agents are an ad format that OpenAI has been testing since 16 September 2026. After clicking on an ad in ChatGPT, users can start a labelled conversation with an AI representative of the advertising company, ask questions about products or services and then follow a link to the website. The conversation runs separately from the original conversation and from ChatGPT’s independent answers.
Can I book Sponsored Agents in Germany?
Not at present. The format is in a limited alpha test with selected advertisers in the USA. According to OpenAI, it is not currently accepting requests for early access. Details on expansion are to follow. The other ChatGPT Ads formats have been available in Germany since 24 August 2026.
Who is liable for what a Sponsored Agent says?
The advertiser. According to OpenAI’s Ad Tools Terms, the advertiser remains responsible for the agent’s content, configuration, actions and output – even if OpenAI created or configured the agent. The approval process should therefore include test conversations with critical questions, for example about delivery dates, prices and outdated offers.
What other new features did OpenAI announce on 16 September 2026?
Conversion optimisation billed by impressions is generally available; attribution windows can be set to 7, 14 or 30 days (click) and 0 or 1 day (view); Android app, Android web, desktop web, iOS app and iOS web can be controlled individually; there are integrations with Shopify (initially USA) and HubSpot; AI-assisted ad creation is being tested; text customisation including translation is available as an opt-in; and the Event Quality Score rates pixel and Conversions API sources on a scale of 1 to 10.
