OpenAI started its ad business with the most restrained format possible: a headline, a short description, a static image, and a link. If you squinted, it looked like a Google text ad with a thumbnail. The whole thing read like a company trying very hard not to disturb its users.
That restraint is ending. Three job listings posted on June 30 show OpenAI hiring engineers specifically to build image, video, native, and conversational ad formats. The senior Ad Formats role pays $230,000–$385,000 plus equity. Two supporting mobile roles focus on format validation and what the listings explicitly call "policy-aware UX patterns."
That last phrase is worth sitting with. OpenAI is building the ad format layer and the privacy controls simultaneously — baking them together from the start rather than retrofitting restrictions onto formats that already exist.
What conversational ads actually mean for e-commerce
The format that will most change things for product-focused advertisers is the conversational ad. OpenAI has already brought in Smartly as its first creative ad tech partner, specifically to develop this — placements that can respond to what a user types inside the chat, adjust their content based on conversation context, and follow the thread of what the user is actually trying to do.
Smartly ran an early test for UK retailer Boots. A chatbot-style ad guided users through gift recommendations mid-conversation rather than just appearing alongside a search result. The outcome: nearly five times more sales than equivalent Meta campaigns. One test, one retailer — treat the number accordingly. But the mechanism isn't surprising. When a user asks ChatGPT "what should I get my dad for his birthday" and your ad can actually help answer that question instead of just appearing next to it, you're in a different category of advertising entirely.
What's live now and what isn't
To be clear about where things actually stand right now: ChatGPT ads are one static unit. Sponsored card. Headline, image, description, link. OpenAI expanded access from the US to the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea in May. The minimum spend is still $200,000, which keeps most mid-market brands watching from the sidelines.
The new formats — image-forward units, video ads, native placements, interactive conversational — do not have announced launch dates. Job postings are pre-production signals, not rollout schedules. These formats are real and coming, but at OpenAI's current pace that could mean Q3 2026 or early 2027.
If you're already running ChatGPT ads
Two things change immediately in how you should be thinking about this.
First, your existing creative brief is probably format-constrained in ways that won't survive. A static headline-and-image combination was designed for one placement. Conversational formats require something different: a decision tree for what your ad says when a user responds to it, asks follow-up questions, or redirects the conversation. Brands who built ChatGPT creative by adapting Meta assets will need to start over.
Second, the conversational format makes the quality of your Q&A script as important as your headline. The Boots campaign worked because someone thought through the actual path a user would take — "what gifts are good for someone who likes gardening" — and wrote responses that were genuinely useful rather than promotional. That's a different discipline than writing ad copy.
The bigger picture
OpenAI has been deliberately slow about adding ad formats. The single-format approach was a choice, not a technical limitation. Hiring for six format types simultaneously suggests they've decided users are ready — or at least that the business case is strong enough to test at scale.
For paid media managers, ChatGPT is no longer a single experimental placement to keep an eye on. It's becoming a full ad platform. The $200K minimum will drop as formats multiply and more advertisers compete for inventory. When it does, the accounts that tested early and built format-specific creative will be better positioned than those starting from scratch.
If your current spend is entirely on Google, Meta, and TikTok, it's worth understanding your actual audience overlap with ChatGPT users before the access barrier comes down. A free audit of your paid account will show you channel gaps and where you're likely missing reach.
The format that started as a link in a chat is about to become something you need a real creative strategy for.
Sources: Digiday, Search Engine Journal, The Next Web, MediaPost, July 2026
