# OpenAI — the record

Maker of ChatGPT and its ads platform; every citation-format and ad-product change here moves the answer-engine market.

Most of OpenAI's record here is an advertising platform being built at unusual speed. Between July 23 and August 7 the wire logged four ChatGPT Ads releases: conversion-value tooltips; then optimized cost-per-click bidding, geographic exclusions, bulk create and update in the Ads API, seven-day rolling budgets and AppsFlyer and Adjust integrations; then a tested Agent campaign type that opens a Business Agent conversation instead of loading the advertiser's website; then a multi-product carousel and launches in Brazil and Mexico. On the answer side, ChatGPT is testing a citation overlay that loads on click. In court, a judge denied the New York Times, Daily News and Ziff Davis leave to revive contributory-infringement theories against Microsoft in the consolidated OpenAI copyright litigation.

Also known as: https://openai.com/ · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI · https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21708200

- 2026-09-05: Seattle Times, Newsday sue OpenAI, Microsoft over AI use (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-05-seattle-times-newsday-sue-openai-microsoft-over-ai-use/)
  The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a joint copyright suit against OpenAI and Microsoft on Sept. 4 in the Southern District of New York, the same day…
- 2026-09-04: ROSS Intelligence flags DOJ's fair-use view to Third Circuit (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-04-ross-intelligence-flags-doj-s-fair-use-view-to-third-circuit/)
  ROSS Intelligence filed a Rule 28(j) letter of new authority with the Third Circuit on Sept. 4, pointing the panel to the U.S. Department of Justice's…
- 2026-09-04: ChatGPT Ads Manager adds a plugin for ChatGPT and Codex (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-04-chatgpt-ads-manager-adds-a-plugin-for-chatgpt-and-codex/)
  OpenAI rolled out a bundle of ChatGPT Ads Manager updates, per Search Engine Roundtable: a plugin that lets advertisers create, edit and troubleshoot…
- 2026-09-03: ChatGPT shopping mode: feed retrieval overtakes web search (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-03-chatgpt-shopping-mode-feed-retrieval-overtakes-web-search/)
  Feed-integrated retrieval accounted for roughly 65% of ChatGPT Shopping mode product recommendations as of late August, overtaking web search as the…
- 2026-09-03: Comscore: sponsored ChatGPT ads hit 24% of hotel prompts (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-03-comscore-sponsored-chatgpt-ads-hit-24-of-hotel-prompts/)
  Comscore has begun tracking sponsored links inside ChatGPT responses using opt-in user-panel data rather than synthetic test prompts, per PPC Land.
- 2026-09-03: Financial services surges into ChatGPT's top ad spenders (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-03-financial-services-surges-into-chatgpt-s-top-ad-spenders/)
  Sensor Tower found ad density on ChatGPT rose 163% between April and August 2026, averaging 26% monthly growth, with about 1,200 unique advertisers active…
- 2026-09-02: Justice Department backs fair use in OpenAI copyright case (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-02-justice-department-backs-fair-use-in-openai-copyright-case/)
  The U.S. Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest on Sept. 1 in In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation, before Judge Sidney Stein…
- 2026-08-31: ChatGPT Ads reaches $1 billion annualized revenue run rate (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-31-chatgpt-ads-reaches-1-billion-annualized-revenue-run-rate/)
  ChatGPT Ads reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate in under 200 days after launch, per OpenAI.
- 2026-08-31: EU designates ChatGPT a very large online search engine (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-31-eu-designates-chatgpt-a-very-large-online-search-engine/)
  The European Commission said Monday it designated ChatGPT a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the EU's Digital Services Act, alongside Reddit…
- 2026-08-30: ACP, AP2 and x402 are three layers of one stack, not three rivals (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-30-acp-ap2-and-x402-are-three-layers-of-one-stack-not-three-rivals/)
  An agent arriving at a site raises three questions in order: who are you, may you read this, and may you buy.
- 2026-08-30: GreyNoise finds forged ClaudeBot and GPTBot traffic hunting for credentials (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-30-greynoise-finds-forged-claudebot-and-gptbot-traffic-hunting-for/)
  GreyNoise reported on August 28 that scanners forging AI-crawler names probed the open web for credential files from 824 addresses across 795 separate…
- 2026-08-30: Query fan-out decides AI citation before a page is ever read (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-30-query-fan-out-decides-ai-citation-before-a-page-is-ever-read/)
  Two measurements published nine days apart describe the same mechanism, and neither one names the other.
- 2026-08-27: No major AI crawler publicly meets all four of Cloudflare's conditions (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-27-no-major-ai-crawler-publicly-meets-all-four-of-cloudflare-s-conditions/)
  When Cloudflare launched Bot Preference Sync on August 21 it set four conditions a crawler doing both search and training must meet to keep reaching sites…
- 2026-08-25: LLMs favor well-known brands until reviews tip the scale (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-25-llms-favor-well-known-brands-until-reviews-tip-the-scale/)
  Testing GPT-4o-mini, Claude Sonnet and Gemini on skincare product recommendations, researchers Xi Chu and Yupeng Hou found that when competing products…
- 2026-08-24: Retail takes 39% of ChatGPT ad slots on 24% of queries (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-24-retail-takes-39-of-chatgpt-ad-slots-on-24-of-queries/)
  Adthena analyzed nearly 850,000 US and UK AI search queries from March to May 2026 and found retail and fashion queries drew 39% of observed US ad…
- 2026-08-22: wikiHow sues OpenAI over AI training, query use (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-22-wikihow-sues-openai-over-ai-training-query-use/)
  wikiHow filed a copyright suit against OpenAI, alleging infringement in both OpenAI's training inputs and its responses to user queries, plus vicarious…
- 2026-08-22: Google adds experiment tools to AI Max for Search ads (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-22-google-adds-experiment-tools-to-ai-max-for-search-ads/)
  Google added experimentation and planning features to AI Max for Search campaigns on August 21, including multi-campaign A/B testing arriving in…
- 2026-08-21: ChatGPT Ads adds platform targeting, but reporting still lags (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-21-chatgpt-ads-adds-platform-targeting-but-reporting-still-lags/)
  OpenAI added a campaign-level control letting advertisers include or exclude iOS App, Android App or Web from ad delivery, a lever absent since ChatGPT…
- 2026-08-21: ChatGPT Ads now defaults new ad groups to 'Maximize results' (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-21-chatgpt-ads-makes-automated-bidding-the-default-for-new-ad-groups/)
  OpenAI now preselects "Maximize results," an automated bidding strategy, for new ad groups in ChatGPT Ads Manager Beta, per PPC Land.
- 2026-08-19: ChatGPT Ads Manager adds view-through conversion tracking (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-19-chatgpt-ads-manager-adds-view-through-conversion-tracking/)
  OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads Manager now surfaces view-through conversions as a standalone column with a fixed one-day attribution window, measured from ad…
- 2026-08-19: 41-day test finds AI crawlers miss JavaScript-only links entirely (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-19-41-day-test-finds-ai-crawlers-miss-javascript-only-links-entirely/)
  An SEO tested crawler discovery on a 2,400-page site by splitting internal links between hard-coded HTML and JavaScript-injected versions, then logging…
- 2026-08-19: ChatGPT ads go live in 31 more European markets (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-19-chatgpt-ads-go-live-in-31-more-european-markets/)
  OpenAI expanded ChatGPT Ads into 31 additional European markets on Aug. 19, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, bringing the pilot to roughly 40…
- 2026-08-17: ChatGPT ads go live in Mexico and Brazil, hit 9 markets (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-17-chatgpt-ads-go-live-in-mexico-and-brazil-hit-9-markets/)
  OpenAI added Mexico and Brazil to ChatGPT Ads on August 17, its first Spanish- and Portuguese-language markets, bringing the total to nine countries, per…
- 2026-08-17: AI models agree on brand visibility only 11% of the time (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-17-ai-models-agree-on-brand-visibility-only-11-of-the-time/)
  A Fractl analysis of 4,320 AI responses to 96 industry prompts across GPT-4o, Gemini 2.5 Flash and Claude Sonnet 4.6 — drawn from roughly 8,500 unique…
- 2026-08-16: ChatGPT ads expand to Europe as crawler bypasses blocks (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-16-chatgpt-ads-expand-to-europe-as-crawler-bypasses-blocks/)
  OpenAI is bringing ChatGPT ads to the European Economic Area and Switzerland later this month, limited to Free and Go plans with personalized targeting…
- 2026-08-16: OpenAI sued by textbook authors over training data (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-16-openai-sued-by-textbook-authors-over-training-data/)
  Textbook author Michael Sullivan and other writers sued OpenAI for copyright infringement in the Southern District of New York on August 14, alleging…
- 2026-08-16: OpenAI tests descriptive headings above ChatGPT ads (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-16-openai-tests-descriptive-headings-above-chatgpt-ads/)
  OpenAI is testing a descriptive heading displayed above ads that appear within ChatGPT responses, per Search Engine Roundtable, which spotted the test but…
- 2026-08-08: NYT, Ziff Davis lose bid to revive copyright claims against Microsoft (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-08-nyt-ziff-davis-lose-bid-to-revive-copyright-claims-against-microsoft/)
  A federal judge overseeing the consolidated In re OpenAI Copyright Infringement Litigation denied the New York Times, Daily News, and Ziff Davis leave to…
- 2026-08-07: Gen Z consideration for Claude and OpenAI nearly doubles, YouGov finds (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-07-gen-z-consideration-for-claude-and-openai-nearly-doubles-yougov-finds/)
  Gen Z consideration of Claude climbed from 14.2% to 28.1% and of OpenAI from 10.1% to 22.1% between Q1 and Q2 2026, per YouGov BrandIndex data reported by…
- 2026-08-07: ChatGPT Ads tests multi-product carousel, expands to Brazil and Mexico (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-07-chatgpt-ads-tests-multi-product-carousel-expands-to-brazil-and-mexico/)
  OpenAI is testing a multi-product carousel format for ChatGPT product feed ads and will launch ChatGPT Ads in Brazil and Mexico in the coming week, per…
- 2026-07-31: OpenAI tests ChatGPT ad format that opens an agent chat, not a website (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-07-31-openai-tests-chatgpt-ad-format-that-opens-an-agent-chat-not-a-website/)
  OpenAI is testing a new "Agent" campaign type in ChatGPT Ads Manager that sends users into a Business Agent conversation instead of to the advertiser's…
- 2026-07-24: Conversion bidding comes to ChatGPT Ads, with rolling budgets and mobile measurement (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-07-24-chatgpt-ads-adds-conversion-bidding-geo-exclusions-and-bulk-campaign/)
  OpenAI rolled out a batch of ChatGPT Ads updates, including optimized cost-per-click campaigns that bid toward likely conversions, geographic exclusion…
- 2026-07-23: ChatGPT Ads Manager adds conversion-value tooltips (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-07-23-chatgpt-ads-manager-adds-conversion-value-tooltips/)
  OpenAI added tooltips to the conversions column in ChatGPT Ads Manager showing conversion values for view-through and click-through attribution, per…
- 2026-07-23: AI Mode and ChatGPT test bottom-anchored citations (https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-07-23-ai-mode-and-chatgpt-test-bottom-anchored-citations/)
  Google AI Mode and OpenAI's ChatGPT are both testing citation cards placed at the bottom of answers — AI Mode anchoring a card at the end of the response…

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