OpenAI's Businesses in ChatGPT Takes Aim at Salesforce, SAP and Google

Two features, one beta, and a direct shot at three established vendors: that's what OpenAI shipped on Tuesday with Businesses in ChatGPT, its latest attempt to win back enterprise buyers who have been drifting toward Anthropic.

The release lands at a pointed moment. Anthropic — the maker of the Claude models — is riding a wave of enterprise wins and is set to execute what's expected to be the biggest IPO ever for a startup next week. OpenAI, by contrast, has struggled in the past to retain enterprise customers compared with its archrival, and it knows it. Businesses in ChatGPT is the counterpunch.

What's actually in the beta?

The offering gives companies new ways to connect with users of the popular chatbot, built around two named components:

• Business Hub — companies can identify their businesses on ChatGPT, manage their information, and see insights on how consumers engage with their company on the platform.
• Business Agent — lets businesses engage with users directly, answering questions and helping people explore what they offer.

Access is phased rather than open. OpenAI said existing OpenAI Enterprise customers and advertisers can work with OpenAI representatives to claim their business. Shopify merchants can connect their business to the new platform from day one — a deliberate choice, and one analysts read as a trust signal.

Who does this compete with?

Almost everyone. The product competes directly with Google Business Profile, which also lets businesses identify their company, verify and update their information. But the sharper threat is aimed at SaaS heavyweights. Lian Jye Su, an analyst with Omdia, a division of Informa TechTarget, said Businesses in ChatGPT could challenge Salesforce and SAP.

Salesforce offers the Agentforce Shopper Agent, which lets enterprises build custom AI agents within their messaging channels to answer product questions or complete orders. SAP has a similar Shopping Agent. OpenAI is now walking straight into that market.

"This is OpenAI … trying to attack an existing market rather than try to create something completely different," Su said.

What does this change for enterprise buyers?

For heavy OpenAI users, the product further embeds them in the OpenAI ecosystem — more surface area, more integration, more reasons to stay. For everyone else, it's a data point in an argument OpenAI has been losing: can the vendor be trusted with business processes?

The move shows how OpenAI continues to refine its product offerings for enterprises. "The willingness to be a bit more open to vertical-specific solutions is important for OpenAI when it comes to the enterprise outreach," Su said. He added that the more OpenAI ships products like this one, the more it encourages enterprises to trust the vendor.

"It gives enterprises a bit more reassurance when it comes to deploying OpenAI solutions in their business processes," he said.

That reassurance matters because of a stubborn perception gap. More enterprises view Anthropic as a safer option, Su said, and have trusted the Claude maker more than OpenAI accordingly. "This is OpenAI's counter to that perception," he continued.

Including Shopify in the release helped ease the worries enterprises have about integrating with ChatGPT, he added — a familiar commerce rails partner does a lot of calming.

The trust gap isn't closed yet

Two concerns remain, and Su named both.

First, privacy. OpenAI will need to do more to alleviate concerns about its ability to protect user data, he said. "There are legitimate concerns around how much OpenAI will take away from these clients," he said, adding that OpenAI needs to make explicitly clear to enterprises that it is not taking and using customer data through the new business-facing products.

Second, agent behavior. Concerns about agents going out of control might also worry enterprises considering Businesses in ChatGPT — a live risk for any vendor shipping autonomous customer-facing agents, and one OpenAI hasn't yet answered publicly in this context.

So the scoreboard after Tuesday: a credible product, a real distribution channel through Shopify, clear targets in Google, Salesforce and SAP — and an unresolved question about data trust that Anthropic's looming IPO will only sharpen. OpenAI built the counter. The perception is still its to win.