Amazon is partnering with OpenAI to let select U.S. brands buy ad placements inside ChatGPT through Amazon's demand-side platform, the companies announced on Thursday1,2. The deal routes advertiser demand from one of the world's largest ad-buying systems into OpenAI's chatbot, which recently crossed $1 billion in annualized ad revenue.
How the plumbing works
Conversational ad inventory will be available as a managed service via Amazon DSP, but OpenAI retains control of all ad delivery decisions through its own systems. Ad units will appear as text or images beneath ChatGPT responses and are "clearly labeled" as sponsored, according to OpenAI. Ad campaigns are set up and managed by Amazon.
The pilot is limited to the United States. Delta Vacations is among the companies participating in the trial.
Amazon's shift from buyer to broker
Amazon had heavily restricted access to its webstore from AI platforms including ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini, while investing in its own AI shopping tools. Yet in recent months Amazon began quietly buying ads on ChatGPT itself, becoming the top retail company advertising on the platform between April and August, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
Chris Conetta, director of omnichannel supply at Amazon's demand-side advertising platform, said conversational ad formats like those in AI chatbots are the "fastest growing engagement opportunity" for brands to reach new and existing customers.
OpenAI started selling sponsored placements in ChatGPT in the U.S. in February, beginning with retailers like Best Buy and Williams-Sonoma. The company said in February that ChatGPT had reached 900 million weekly active users.
ANALYSIS The partnership splits responsibilities along each company's core strength: Amazon aggregates advertiser demand and campaign management, while OpenAI controls the user experience and placement logic. The arrangement lets OpenAI scale its ad business through an established buying channel without building its own full-stack sales operation.
Amazon's trajectory, from restricting AI platforms' access to its webstore, to buying ChatGPT ads itself, to now brokering ad demand into the platform, marks a rapid reversal in posture toward OpenAI's commercial surface.