OpenAI has launched Businesses in ChatGPT, a new system that lets companies claim a ChatGPT business profile, verify that they own it, and control the information the AI chatbot uses when it talks about them. Announced on Tuesday 10 November 2026 and released in beta, the launch centres on a new Business Hub at chatgpt.com/business-hub, where eligible businesses can claim their listing and update their details. According to Reuters, press coverage is already comparing the profiles to Google Business Profile — the listing businesses have managed on Google for years.
1What a Claimed Profile Lets You Control
According to OpenAI’s announcement, an eligible business in any country where ChatGPT is available can claim its profile and then edit the details customers — and the AI — rely on. That includes the business’s website, its description, its logo, and its delivery and return policies. Businesses can also connect product feeds carrying prices and availability, so the products ChatGPT describes are the ones actually in stock, at the prices actually charged.
Gulf News reports that the point of the profiles is accuracy: instead of ChatGPT piecing together whatever it finds about a company across the web, the business itself supplies the facts. OpenAI says ChatGPT now has about 1.2 billion weekly users, so what the chatbot says about a business reaches an audience comparable to a major search engine.
That audience is exactly why accuracy matters. When a shopper asks a chatbot which store to buy from, the answer arrives as a single confident recommendation, not a page of links to compare. If the prices, stock levels or return terms behind that recommendation are stale, the customer may never reach the business’s own website to discover the mistake — the wrong facts simply become the answer.
2Verification Comes in Two Steps
Claiming starts with proving the business is yours. OpenAI offers several ownership checks: a code sent by text or call to the business phone number, a business email address, a DNS TXT record added to the business’s domain, or signing in through a Shopify account.
That is only the first layer. Before a business can publish changes, view its insights or create an agent, it must pass a second identity verification through Persona, a third-party verification service. Once approved, the business gets a blue verified check next to its name in ChatGPT — a signal to users that the profile is genuinely controlled by the company it names.
3Insights: See How Often ChatGPT Mentions You
Verified businesses also receive aggregated insights covering the past 28 days. The dashboard shows how often ChatGPT mentioned the business, how many website clicks those mentions produced, and “discovery topics” — the common themes in conversations where the business’s site was cited as a source.
The privacy limits are strict. Businesses never see individual conversations, only totals. Low counts are withheld entirely so that small numbers cannot be traced back to specific users, and OpenAI is clear that a click does not confirm a visit or a sale — it is a signal of interest, not a conversion report. Even so, for businesses used to flying blind in AI search, this is the first real visibility data any major chatbot has offered them.
4Business Agents: Your Own AI Agent Inside ChatGPT
The second half of the launch goes further. Eligible US e-commerce and online-service businesses can publish a labelled AI agent inside ChatGPT that answers customer questions using the business’s own product and policy information — sizing, shipping times, returns, availability — drawn from the claimed profile rather than guessed.
The agents are US-only for now and free at launch. OpenAI adds one commercial twist: businesses will be able to sponsor an agent as a destination inside ChatGPT Ads, meaning a company’s agent could become a paid place customers land. For now, though, the feature is a free experiment limited to American online sellers and service providers.
5Shopify Stores, Big Companies and Local Shops
Shopify merchants get the smoothest route in: they can connect their store through the Business Hub or directly from the Shopify admin, and the Shopify login doubles as an ownership check. Enterprise customers and existing advertisers can claim through their OpenAI representative instead. Importantly, claiming does not require an ads account or an Enterprise agreement — any eligible business can do it.
Local businesses are the exception. For now, local stores and restaurants can only claim an existing US listing; the full editing toolkit is aimed at online businesses first.
6What Claiming Does NOT Do
OpenAI is unusually direct about the limits. Claiming a profile does not change a business’s visibility in ChatGPT, and it does not guarantee higher placement or more sales. ChatGPT keeps making its recommendations independently, based on what it judges most helpful — the profile simply makes sure the facts it works from are accurate and current.
In other words, a claimed profile is not a ranking shortcut. It is the same lesson Google Business Profile taught businesses a decade ago, repeated for the AI era: you cannot buy or claim your way to the top, but you can make sure that when the platform talks about you, it gets you right.
7What This Means for Pakistani Businesses
More Pakistani customers now start with a question to ChatGPT — “best Shopify store for watches under Rs 5,000”, “reliable web developer in Peshawar” — instead of a Google search. Until this week, a business had no way to check what ChatGPT said about it, let alone correct it. A claimed, accurate profile with real product and policy information is the AI-search equivalent of the Google Business Profile work we do for clients every week — and our local SEO guide for Pakistan covers the Google side of that same discipline.
Three practical points for Pakistani sellers and service businesses:
- Watch eligibility, and claim early when it opens to you. The full toolkit is US-focused today, but profiles are open to eligible businesses in countries where ChatGPT is available, and the Shopify route is directly relevant to Pakistani Shopify merchants selling abroad. Early claimants will have accurate data in place before their competitors think about it.
- Do not drop Google. ChatGPT itself says claiming guarantees nothing. The businesses most likely to be cited by AI are the ones whose facts agree everywhere — website, Google Business Profile and structured data. Our coverage of Google AI Mode ads in Pakistan shows Google is moving the same direction, and our guide to schema markup for local businesses shows how to feed both platforms clean, consistent information.
- Treat your product and policy pages as AI sources now. ChatGPT answers from product feeds, delivery and return policies and your site’s content. Outdated prices and vague policies no longer just confuse customers — they get quoted back by an AI, at scale.
The same applies to service businesses, not just shops. A consultancy, agency or freelancer has no product feed, but the description, website and service details on a claimed profile serve the same purpose: they are the version of the business the AI repeats. If your services, prices or service areas have changed and your profiles have not, the chatbot will keep selling the old version of your company — politely, confidently and wrongly.
Get Found Wherever Customers Ask
At Azhad Niaz & Company, we already optimise Google Business Profiles, websites and schema for exactly this kind of visibility — and AI search is now part of the same job. If you want your business described accurately wherever customers ask — Google, Maps or ChatGPT — contact us for a free consultation and we will audit what the platforms currently say about you.