OpenAI has launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta, giving companies a new way to reach the 1.2 billion people who use the chatbot each week. Through a tool called Business Hub, businesses can claim their organisation, update key details, and add self-service product feeds that list pricing and availability. Once verified, that information is intended to help ChatGPT give people more accurate answers about products and services. Businesses can also see aggregated insights, including how many mentions and website clicks they receive and the discovery topics where their website is cited. Shopify merchants can connect their stores from Business Hub or the Shopify admin to speed up verification, and eligible Shopify products are already integrated through Shopify Catalog. Existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers must work with their OpenAI representative to claim a business. The launch also introduces Business Agents, which let eligible organisations build, test and launch an assistant that answers questions about their offerings. When a business appears in a model response, users can open its ChatGPT profile and, if an agent is available, start a separate conversation that is clearly labelled and distinct from ChatGPT's own answers. Businesses can sponsor their agent and use it as the destination for ChatGPT Ads, with sponsored placements also clearly marked. OpenAI says it does not share users' conversations or Business Agent chats with businesses, and that insights are only shown once they meet minimum volume thresholds. For now, Business Agents are limited to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the United States. OpenAI describes the release as an early step and says it plans to expand to more markets, more business categories and tools for organisations with complex needs. For Australian businesses, the change is limited for now. The announcement says any eligible business in a location where ChatGPT is available can claim its profile, so a local company may be able to update its details, publish a product feed and check how it is cited, though the announcement does not mention fees. Business Agents and sponsored agent placements are US-only at launch, so there is nothing to build locally yet. Any staff contact details or other personal information included in a profile or feed should be handled in line with the Privacy Act, and customer data should not be uploaded. The practical step worth taking is to claim and check the listing for accuracy, then revisit once the agent features reach Australia.