Update, October 15, 2026: Amazon has since folded Amazon DSP into Amazon Ads Agent. Here is what changed.
On September 10, Amazon Ads announced a partnership with OpenAI to support advertising in ChatGPT. Marketers who already use Amazon Ads to plan, build and optimize campaigns will be able to extend them into ChatGPT.
It’s a pilot for select U.S. advertisers, and you can’t plan a budget from the press release: it leaves key planning details unanswered.
Here’s what is confirmed, what isn’t, and what to do in the meantime.
What Amazon announced
From Amazon’s announcement:
- It’s a partnership with OpenAI that lets advertisers “expand their Amazon Ads campaigns with a conversational ad experience on ChatGPT.”
- It’s a pilot. “Select advertisers in the U.S. are currently testing ChatGPT Ads as part of a pilot.”
- It features Amazon’s DSP team. The announcement quotes Chris Conetta, Director of Omnichannel Supply at Amazon DSP, Amazon’s platform for buying ads on and off Amazon. (Here’s how DSP compares with Amazon’s sponsored ads.) It doesn’t spell out the buying workflow.
- A travel brand is one of the first testers. Delta Vacations is named in the announcement as one of the early testers.
That’s a clue the pilot reaches beyond product sellers, the same way Amazon DSP works for businesses that don’t sell on Amazon. Amazon hasn’t published who qualifies.
What ChatGPT ads are
OpenAI started testing ads in ChatGPT earlier this year. The ground rules it has published:
- Ads appear at the bottom of ChatGPT’s answers.
- They’re clearly labeled and separated from the answer itself.
- OpenAI says ads don’t influence the answers ChatGPT gives, and that it doesn’t sell user data to advertisers.
So an ad doesn’t change who ChatGPT recommends. It puts your brand directly under the answer, at the moment someone has just described exactly what they need.
Two routes to consider
This is where brands get confused, so it’s worth being precise.
| OpenAI Ads Manager | Amazon Ads partnership | |
|---|---|---|
| How you buy | Directly from OpenAI, self-serve | Through Amazon Ads; workflow not published |
| Who can use it | Being opened to more businesses since OpenAI's self-serve beta in May | Select U.S. advertisers in a pilot |
| What's published about targeting | Little. OpenAI says conversations stay private from advertisers and it doesn't sell user data | Targeting controls aren't published. Delta Vacations, a tester, refers to consumer insights; Amazon doesn't say what data that means |
They’re different routes with different rules. What applies to one doesn’t automatically apply to the other.
What isn’t known yet
Amazon hasn’t published the details a brand would need to plan around:
- Who qualifies for the pilot, and when it opens up more widely.
- What the ads look like and where they link: your own site, your Amazon listing, or either.
- How results show up in Amazon’s reporting, and whether sales reached through ChatGPT count toward Amazon’s Brand Referral Bonus (credits that offset Amazon’s referral fees on future sales, earned on qualifying sales you drive to Amazon with non-Amazon marketing, tracked through Amazon Attribution).
- What it costs.
Anyone who tells you the answers to those right now is guessing.
What to do now
Don’t wait for the pilot if you want to test ChatGPT ads this year. OpenAI’s self-serve beta is a route to check now (more on how it works on our ChatGPT advertising page); confirm current eligibility before you plan a test. If ChatGPT is where your customers ask for recommendations, a measured test there will teach you more than waiting will.
If you already run Amazon DSP, ask your Amazon contact whether the pilot is open to you, and whether the ads use Amazon’s shopper data for targeting. That answer isn’t in the announcement.
Get your own house in order either way. An ad in ChatGPT sends people to a page. If that page doesn’t answer the question they just asked, the click is wasted, whichever route you bought it through. Check that your product pages and listings say clearly what the product is, who it’s for, and why it’s the right pick.
Set your measurement before you spend. Decide what a good result looks like (new customers, orders, cost per order) and make sure you can see it. New channels are easy to overpraise and easy to kill too early when nobody agreed on the number first.
We wrote a longer piece on whether you should be running ChatGPT ads at all. The honest answer depends on what you sell and what you already spend.
Key takeaways
- Amazon Ads and OpenAI announced a partnership on September 10 to bring Amazon-powered ads into ChatGPT. It’s a U.S. pilot for select advertisers.
- The announcement features Amazon’s DSP team, but doesn’t spell out the buying workflow or who qualifies.
- Two routes to consider: OpenAI’s self-serve beta and Amazon’s select-advertiser pilot. The rules differ.
- Key planning details aren’t public yet. Plan around what you can test now, not what’s been announced.
If you want a straight read on whether ChatGPT ads fit your business, and which route makes sense, see what we’d look at first.
Sources
- Amazon Ads: Amazon Ads announces new integration with ChatGPT, September 10, 2026
- OpenAI: Our approach to advertising and expanding access to ChatGPT, January 16, 2026
- OpenAI: Testing ads in ChatGPT, February 9, 2026
- OpenAI: New ways to buy ChatGPT ads, May 5, 2026
- Amazon: Brand Referral Bonus