OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads now lets advertisers match a first-party email or phone list to the people they want to reach, or the ones they want to leave out, alongside a conversational tool for running the campaigns.
OpenAI opened first-party audience targeting in ChatGPT Ads
In the week of 4 September 2026, OpenAI expanded the self-serve tooling behind ChatGPT Ads. The headline addition is custom audiences: an advertiser uploads a CSV or TXT file of emails or phone numbers, raw or SHA-256 hashed, then uses that list to target or suppress users. Per OpenAI's own ChatGPT Ads help documentation and PPC Land's account of the rollout, files can run up to 500 MB (500,000,000 bytes), lists can be edited by adding, removing or replacing members without rebuilding an audience, and a single request can mix identifier types and include Google Advertising ID.
The default minimum is 25,000 matched users, though Search Engine Roundtable's rundown of the updates notes that smaller lists are now allowed when the purpose is exclusion, and a single uploaded file can contain up to five million identifiers. The custom-audience capability first surfaced in a gated rollout around 14 May 2026, and the self-serve Ads Manager reached all US businesses on 5 May 2026.
The same bundle adds a conversational Ads Manager plugin that builds and manages campaigns, generates ad variants and previews a change before it is applied. Shopping results in ChatGPT now draw only from brands that send product feeds, and the Measurement Pixel and Conversions API accept more matching signals, including hashed phone numbers, names, region and postal codes.
What a matched list means for being found
For a professional-services firm, this is a paid way to put your name in front of specific people while they are asking ChatGPT for help, a companion to earning being visible inside ChatGPT through the answers themselves. A matched list means you can reach your existing clients and prospects, or deliberately exclude the people you already serve so the spend goes to new enquiries.
The trade-off worth pausing on is data. Uploading a client email or phone list, even hashed, is a data-matching activity, and for compliance-minded firms in Australia and the UK it raises consent and privacy-policy questions worth checking before anything is uploaded.
For now the channel is limited. It runs from ads.openai.com with business verification, and while a geographic expansion to select European countries, India and the Middle East and North Africa began in the week of 4 September 2026, Australia and the UK are not yet on the list. When it does arrive, treating a paid presence as one part of getting found inside AI answers, rather than the whole plan, keeps it in proportion. If you want a view on how paid and organic visibility fit together for your firm, talk to Amina.
Frequently asked questions
Does my firm need to do anything now that ChatGPT Ads has added custom audiences?
ChatGPT Ads custom audiences is a paid advertising feature you choose to use, not a change that affects your website or your organic visibility. There is nothing to action unless you plan to advertise inside ChatGPT, and today that is limited to US-verified advertisers.
Can a firm in Australia or the UK use ChatGPT Ads custom audiences yet?
Not yet. ChatGPT Ads custom audiences opened to US businesses, and a geographic expansion to select European countries, India and the Middle East and North Africa began in the week of 4 September 2026. Australia and the UK are not confirmed, so treat it as one to watch.
Is uploading our client list to ChatGPT Ads custom audiences a privacy concern?
Uploading a client list to ChatGPT Ads custom audiences can be a privacy concern. Matching a list of emails or phone numbers is a data-matching activity even when the file is hashed, so check your consent basis and privacy policy, and take advice, before uploading any client data.
What is the ChatGPT Ads Manager plugin that launched alongside custom audiences?
The ChatGPT Ads Manager plugin is a conversational interface for building and managing ChatGPT Ads campaigns. It can generate ad variants, help troubleshoot delivery and offer recommendations, and it previews a change before applying it.
