OpenAI Pushes Deeper Into Consumer Discovery With ChatGPT Business Hub and Odessia Acquisition

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT’s role as a consumer discovery engine, rolling out a Business Hub for companies on Tuesday and acquiring AI travel agent Odessia.

The Business Hub, currently in beta, lets companies create verified business profiles where they can confirm and update information about their products and services, closely resembling the profiles Google and other search engines already offer. Eligible companies can also create a specialised business agent that answers ChatGPT users’ questions about the business and its products. The hub provides limited insights into how users interact with a business, including profile views, mentions and website clicks.

OpenAI said that as people increasingly turn to AI to discover products, compare options and make decisions, ChatGPT has become the platform connecting people and businesses, describing the announcement as an early step in bringing businesses further into ChatGPT. Businesses must complete a formal verification process, and Benji Shomair, OpenAI’s VP of Monetization, said the company uses multiple verification methods for different types of business in different markets.

The move follows OpenAI’s earlier attempt to turn ChatGPT into a commission-based e-commerce hub, complete with a checkout cart, which failed to gain traction and was retired in March. The new approach positions ChatGPT more as a Google-style destination for researching companies.

Separately, Odessia founder Francis Davidson said he has joined OpenAI to help shape the future of travel. Terms were not disclosed. The year-old startup, which secured a $6 million pre-seed round led by Sequoia, launched its AI travel agent around five months ago. Davidson said it had helped early adopters plan millions of dollars’ worth of travel, but the tool has already been shut down. His announcement focused largely on how he built Odessia by directing teams of AI agents.

An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the hire, describing Davidson as a proven founder who has built multiple travel businesses. The spokesperson said 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week for everyday tasks, including trip planning, and that the company sees an opportunity to make those experiences more useful, though no travel-specific products have been announced. OpenAI counts Booking.com, Expedia and KAYAK as customers or partners.

Davidson previously founded Sonder, a short-term upscale apartment rental company he built into a unicorn with $143 million in revenue before it went bankrupt after a key partnership with Marriott collapsed.