OpenAI Launches Product Carousel Ads in ChatGPT
OpenAI has introduced product carousel ads in ChatGPT, expanding its advertising platform with a format that displays multiple products from a single retailer within one sponsored placement. The rollout builds on the company’s product feed campaigns and arrives ahead of the holiday shopping season as OpenAI continues expanding its commerce and advertising business.
Previously, ChatGPT ads displayed a single sponsored product with an image, description, and link. Now, the new carousel format presents several related products side by side at the bottom of relevant conversations. As a result, shoppers can compare multiple items without leaving the chat, while retailers gain greater visibility for their product catalogs.
Product feeds power the new format
The carousel format builds on OpenAI’s product feed advertising system introduced earlier this year. Instead of creating ads individually, retailers can upload entire product catalogs, allowing ChatGPT to automatically generate product-based campaigns. Consequently, advertisers can scale campaigns more efficiently while keeping product information updated.
OpenAI’s advertising platform determines whether to display a single product or a carousel based on the conversation and its internal ad-serving systems. Therefore, advertisers do not manually choose the format, as the platform automatically selects the most appropriate presentation for each eligible query.
Expanding ChatGPT’s commerce ecosystem
The product carousel represents another step in OpenAI’s broader monetization strategy. Earlier this year, the company launched ChatGPT ads for eligible Free and Go users in the United States before expanding self-serve advertising tools and product feed campaigns for retailers. Throughout the rollout, OpenAI has maintained that ads remain clearly labeled, do not influence ChatGPT’s answers, and do not give advertisers access to users’ private conversations.
Industry observers expect the new format to attract additional retail advertising during the fourth-quarter shopping season. Meanwhile, brands are increasingly optimizing product feeds because AI assistants rely on structured catalog data to surface shopping recommendations. As conversational commerce grows, product carousel ads position ChatGPT as a more competitive destination for product discovery alongside traditional search and shopping platforms.
