OpenAI began testing Sponsored Agents on Wednesday, an ad format that converts a ChatGPT ad click into a labeled conversation with an advertiser’s AI, and named HubSpot as its first CRM partner and Shopify as its first e-commerce partner on the same day. The pilot is running with what Reuters describes as a select group of U.S. advertisers, and OpenAI says the sponsored conversations are clearly labeled and kept separate from ChatGPT’s independent answers and from the user’s original chat.

The commerce plumbing landed alongside the format itself. U.S. merchants can install a ChatGPT Ads app in the Shopify App Store, with products pulled through Shopify Catalog; the app expands to other ChatGPT Ads markets starting September 23. HubSpot customers can connect a ChatGPT Ads account inside HubSpot to build campaigns, track performance, and follow up on leads, closing the loop from impression to pipeline entry within a single dashboard.

Then come the incentives. The HubSpot AI Growth Bundle offers up to 65 percent off HubSpot Starter for a year, buy-one-get-one-free ChatGPT Business seats, and a $750 match on ChatGPT Ads spend for new accounts opened by September 30, per Quartz. That’s a paid-acquisition promotional stack aimed squarely at small operators, timed to the launch window.

Angi (NASDAQ: ANGI) is among the first brands in the pilot, with a sponsored agent that may appear in relevant home-services conversations. It’s a legible test case: intent-heavy vertical, transactional query, one-shot dialogue. The precedent worth watching isn’t the format itself but who gets in before the auction dynamics harden, echoing this outlet’s earlier wire coverage of the ChatGPT ads rollout and the September self-serve expansion.

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