Maybe you’re already running Google Ads. Maybe you’ve tried Facebook advertising. Now I’m asking you about ChatGPT ads, and you’re thinking, “Hang on. When did that happen?”
Well, OpenAI began its U.S. advertising test on February 9, 2026. Ads started rolling out to Free and Go users in Canada on April 16. Canadian businesses can now use self-service Ads Manager, subject to its account and advertising requirements.
So yes, this is something a business owner or startup founder can explore. You can open the account and run the advertising yourself.
Of course, you already have a business to run. Before adding another place to spend money, I’d want to understand why it might work for you. What’s different about the person seeing the ad? What do you need to set up? And how will you know whether it brought you any business?
We’ll compare how the customer finds you, then work through your offer, the account setup, spending limits and the results you should track.
From paper and posters to a conversation
Think about how advertising has changed. Businesses used newspapers and posters. Radio gave them a voice. Television added moving pictures. Each brought another way to tell the story, without making the older ones disappear.
Think of Mad Men and Don Draper working out how to sell the idea. Now imagine explaining search ads, social feeds and ChatGPT to him.
Google launched its self-service AdWords program on October 23, 2000. It became Google Ads on July 24, 2018. Facebook unveiled its Facebook Ads system on November 6, 2007.
What feels different now is how quickly the next change arrives. As a business owner, you’re still learning one approach when another appears.
Google and Facebook each deserve their own article. Here, let’s start with what advertising inside a conversation means for you.
Think about the conversation before the purchase
Imagine you sell desks for small home offices.
Someone goes to Google and searches “small standing desk Canada.” They’re looking for something, and your Google Search ad might put it in front of them.
On Facebook, the same person could be scrolling through pictures and videos. Your ad shows a neat little office tucked into an apartment. They stop because it looks like something they could do at home. That’s the kind of product discovery Meta talks about.
Now imagine that person talking to ChatGPT.
“I work from home. My desk is in the bedroom, I have two monitors, and I’d rather not spend the whole day sitting. What could I do with this space?”
They might ask about desk sizes, compare standing desks and work out what they can afford. A relevant ad could appear while they’re thinking it through.
I find that interesting. The conversation gives them room to explain what they need before deciding what to buy.
That’s the opportunity I’d explore: does your product fit the problem someone is working through?
These are examples, not fixed rules. Google has discovery formats too, Facebook ads can lead straight to a sale, and somebody asking ChatGPT about desks may never buy one. We still have to find out what happens.
You can buy an ad without buying the answer
There’s an important distinction here.
You might ask, “If I pay, will ChatGPT start recommending my business?”
OpenAI says advertisers cannot change, rank or influence ChatGPT’s answers. The ads are clearly labelled and separate. You also don’t get to read the customer’s private conversation. How ChatGPT ads work.
Organic visibility needs its own work. Your website should still explain what you do, answer useful questions and give people reasons to trust you. Our small-business SEO guide covers that groundwork. You don’t have to earn an organic AI mention before you can advertise.
Another detail: eligible Free and Go users may see ads, while Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts are ad-free. Think about whom you’re trying to reach, particularly if you sell to businesses using paid work accounts.
Start with something you can explain clearly
Before opening Ads Manager, I’d choose one offer.
For our furniture business, that could be a compact standing desk. For a contractor, one service in the area they actually cover. For a software startup, a trial of a particular product.
Then ask what the customer needs to know. Will the desk fit? Where do you deliver? What does it cost? What happens if it doesn’t work out?
Your landing page, the page someone reaches after clicking, should answer those questions. Don’t make them hunt through your entire website.
Try it on your phone. Complete the form or go through the checkout. If the page is confusing or the form doesn’t work, paying for more visitors won’t help much.
I’d also decide what a useful result looks like. An estimate request from someone outside your service area isn’t much use. A software trial is more promising when the person actually uses the product.
Then have a look inside Ads Manager
You can start at ads.openai.com. If you’re only exploring, skip creating an ad during signup and enter Ads Manager first.
Check your business details, currency and time zone carefully. OpenAI says the account’s country or region, currency and time zone cannot be changed afterwards. Complete the required billing and verification when you’re ready.
Watch this part: an ad created during signup can begin running after approval when the account and campaign are ready. Don’t assume you’re only practising. Account setup guidance.
For the campaign, you choose an objective, budget and locations. The objectives include Views, Clicks and Conversions. A Conversions objective doesn’t mean you only pay when someone buys. Depending on the billing option, you’re paying for clicks or impressions.
Location deserves attention too. Standard campaigns can support cities or postal codes where available. New product-feed campaigns currently target countries only. Check the actual options if your business serves one local area. Campaign settings.
Within the campaign, group related ads and describe when your offer would be useful. OpenAI calls these descriptions context hints. “Compact desks for apartment home offices” gives it something more useful than “great furniture.”
The hints guide matching; they don’t guarantee a placement in a particular conversation.
Write a clear headline and description, choose an accurate image and link to the relevant page. Review the current creative requirements. AI can help you develop variations, but check every product claim before using them.
What does C$25 a day really mean?
The listed minimum daily budget for CAD billing is C$25, but it’s an average. With that setting unchanged, spending can reach C$50 in a day and C$175 in a full Sunday-to-Saturday budget week. Budget changes affect those limits. Daily budget rules.
A campaign-total budget gives you stricter control over the total. Either way, decide what you can afford before launching. Allow for applicable taxes and the time you’ll spend managing it.
Follow the customer past the click
Before launching, tag your ad links and test the tracking for the action you want: an inquiry, trial or purchase. OpenAI’s measurement tools can record website outcomes. Get help with setup, privacy and consent requirements if needed.
Then check what those inquiries became in your own sales records.
Suppose C$350 brings ten genuine inquiries and two customers. That’s C$35 per inquiry and C$175 per customer, before other costs. These are illustrative numbers. Whether they work depends on what you earn from those customers.
Our guide to inquiries, bookings and business results follows that process in more detail.
One caution: spending reports can lag by seven to eight hours. Don’t treat a zero in the dashboard as proof that nothing has been spent. Reporting details.
You don’t have to move your whole marketing budget
I wouldn’t abandon a productive Google or Facebook campaign to try this. Give ChatGPT a defined test budget and a review date.
At that point, ask whether the right people responded and what became of their interest. A small test can teach you something without proving what your long-term return will be.
So, are you using ChatGPT ads already?
If you are, I’d be interested in what you’re learning. If you aren’t, you now have a starting point for deciding whether they fit your business.
Platform details checked November 8, 2026. Examples are illustrative, not a report of campaign results.
Written by Stephen Lau, with AI-assisted research and editorial preparation. Original AI-generated illustrations are conceptual scenes.