On 10 November 2026 OpenAI opened ChatGPT to businesses. The beta is called Businesses in ChatGPT. A company can claim its profile, correct the information ChatGPT shows about it and see how often it appears in answers. OpenAI says 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week, so the launch got a lot of attention in a few hours.
Most of that coverage skips the detail a business in Malta needs first. Part of the product is limited to the United States for now. This guide explains what OpenAI launched, what you can use from Malta today and what to fix on your website while access rolls out.
Last updated: 11 November 2026. The product is in beta and OpenAI is changing access week by week. We will update this guide when the rules for Malta change.
The short version
You manage everything from Business Hub, a new area in the ChatGPT sidebar. It has three parts.
The three parts are separate. You can claim a profile and read your insights without publishing an agent or paying for ads. You also don't need an Ads account or a ChatGPT Enterprise contract to claim a business.
You need a ChatGPT account and the right to represent the business. These are the steps OpenAI describes in its help centre.
An approved claim gets you into Business Hub, but you can't publish anything until Persona approves you too. The blue check appears after that second approval. From that point you can edit your website, description, category, logo, cover photo, delivery policy and return policy.
Two things to know before you start. OpenAI reviews every change, so an edit can take time to show up in an answer. ChatGPT also keeps reading other sources about you, which means your profile is one input among several.
If someone else looks after your website or marketing, the admin who claimed the business can add teammates or give an agency access from Business Hub. Each person uses their own ChatGPT account.
If you sell products, you can send OpenAI a feed with prices and stock levels. Shopify stores connect their catalogue in a few clicks. Other shops upload a CSV file that follows OpenAI's product feed specification, or give a hosted URL that points to the file.
A feed gives ChatGPT your own numbers, where before it had to rely on whatever it found by crawling your pages. OpenAI states that connecting a feed does not publish an agent and does not guarantee that ChatGPT recommends your products.
Insights cover the last 28 days and report three things.
| Metric | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Mentions | For an online business, the times ChatGPT references your website. Your brand name on its own does not count. For a local business, the times ChatGPT shows a result for that location, even if nobody opens it. |
| Website clicks | How often people click through to your site. |
| Discovery topics | The themes of the answers where your business appeared. A hotel might find it shows up in answers about family holidays in Malta or places to stay near the sea. |
You won't see individual prompts or conversations, including chats with your own agent. A blank metric doesn't mean zero. OpenAI says it can also mean the activity hasn't reached the reporting threshold or the data is still being collected.
Insights tell you what happens inside ChatGPT. Google Analytics still tells you what visitors do once they land on your site, so you need both.
A Business Agent is a separate chat that a customer can open from your profile. It answers with the information you supplied, such as product details, prices, delivery terms and your return policy. ChatGPT labels the conversation as a chat with your business, apart from its own answers.
Setup happens in Business Hub. You choose the information the agent can use, write instructions for how it should answer, test it with questions your customers ask and publish it when the answers are right. Wrong prices or an outdated return policy in the source data will produce wrong answers, so check the data before the instructions.
The agent has limits. It can't complete a purchase, take a booking or look up an order. It explains your products and policies, then links to your website, where the customer finishes the job.
It also has a location limit. Business Agents are open to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the US. OpenAI says access will expand to more business types over time and gives no date.
Some of it, with conditions. OpenAI says eligible businesses can claim a profile where ChatGPT is available and the required verification is supported, and that eligibility depends on industry, location and its own integrity checks. Claiming is open first to businesses with a website.
Here is where things stand on 11 November 2026.
So a Maltese company can check its eligibility and join the queue. Access today is not guaranteed. You can follow updates on OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT page.
Claiming a profile does not move you up in ChatGPT's answers. OpenAI repeats this in several places. ChatGPT keeps making its own recommendations, based on the sources it finds and trusts. Your website is the source you control, and the work below pays off whether or not your claim gets approved.
Search your company name and the services you sell, then note what it gets wrong.
Search for your listing and see how far the flow takes you.
ChatGPT finds pages through a crawler called OAI-SearchBot. Check that your robots.txt, firewall and CDN allow it.
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /GPTBot is a different crawler that collects content for model training. The two settings are independent, so you can appear in ChatGPT search and still block training.
Say who you are, where you work, what you sell, your terms and how to reach you. For Malta, write in English and add Italian or Maltese if your customers use them.
Name, address, phone and services should match on your site, your Google Business Profile and your directory listings.
Use LocalBusiness and Organization markup for a company, Product and Offer for a shop. OpenAI doesn't require it, and it helps any machine read your pages.
People type long requests into ChatGPT, such as "an English school in Malta for a four-week course with accommodation". Pages that answer that level of detail have a better chance of being cited.
If you run an online shop, accurate titles, prices and stock make a feed easy to build later.
Look for chatgpt.com among your referrals in GA4.
If you want the background on how this fits with classic search, read our guide to SEO, AEO and GEO.
An AI agent that talks to your customers processes their data, and the usual GDPR duties apply. Malta's data protection authority, the IDPC, expects your privacy notice to state the purpose of the processing, the legal basis, who receives the data, how long you keep it and any transfer outside the EU. Don't collect personal details through a chatbot that you don't need.
Article 50 of the EU AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026. People must be told when they are talking to an AI system, unless the context makes it obvious. This covers any chatbot on your own website too. In Malta the MDIA leads the national implementation of the Act.
The names are close and people mix them up.
Businesses in ChatGPT is about how your company appears to ChatGPT users. It covers the profile, insights and agents described above. OpenAI has not published a price list for it.
ChatGPT Business is a paid subscription for teams that use ChatGPT at work. It gives a shared workspace with admin controls, user management and security settings. Its pricing has nothing to do with claiming a profile.
We check how AI assistants read your website and fix what holds it back, from crawler access to structured data and content. See our AI solutions for businesses in Malta, or send us your website and we will tell you what ChatGPT can and can't read on it today.
OpenAI's announcement of 10 November 2026 lists no price for claiming a business or using Business Hub. ChatGPT ads are a separate, paid product.
You can check your eligibility in Business Hub. Access depends on your sector, your location and OpenAI's verification. During the beta you may land on a waitlist.
No. On 11 November 2026 OpenAI's help page says local stores and restaurants can claim only an existing US listing.
No. They are open to eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the US.
No. Claiming lets you manage your information. OpenAI says it does not guarantee higher placement or more sales, and that advertising does not influence ChatGPT's independent answers.
Yes. The admin who claimed the business can add teammates or grant an agency access in Business Hub.
