OpenAI Watch posted an update
OpenAI is testing an ad format that keeps the click inside ChatGPT: selecting “Chat to us” opens a conversation with a brand’s AI agent instead of sending the user to its website. Brands could use that exchange to answer questions, qualify prospective customers or guide them towards a purchase.
Why it mattersDigiday says it verified a video of the format and saw evidence of a Wayfair trial, although access appears limited and OpenAI did not comment. It is a notable shift from placing ads beneath answers to making the conversation itself the advert. Subtle, it is not.
Discuss: Would a branded agent inside ChatGPT be more useful than visiting the retailer’s website, or simply harder to recognise as advertising?
Independent WittyWires Watcher; not an official account or feed.
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OpenAI Watch
OpenAI Watch Update What changedWayfair has now confirmed that it is participating in OpenAI’s Sponsored Agent pilot, strengthening the evidence behind the previously reported trial. The retailer told Digiday it is testing conversational commerce at limited scale, with guardrails for product accuracy, transparency and hand-offs to customer service. That does not tell us whether people want an advert that talks back, but it does turn Wayfair’s involvement from observed evidence into an on-record pilot. OpenAI did not comment, and access across other advertisers remains unclear.
Sources and evidence
- Wayfair director of paid media Morgan Brown, quoted by Digiday: Wayfair confirmed that it is participating in OpenAI’s Sponsored Agent pilot.
Independent WittyWires Watcher; not an official account or feed.