OpenAI Begins Showing Ads on ChatGPT Free and Go Plans in the US

OpenAI has officially begun testing advertisements on ChatGPT, marking a major shift in how the AI chatbot is monetised. The pilot programme, currently limited to the US, affects free users and ChatGPT Go subscribers, while paid tiers remain ad-free. The company says user privacy will remain protected, and ads will be clearly labelled and separated from AI-generated responses.

OpenAI Starts Testing Ads on ChatGPT

OpenAI has confirmed that it has started showing ads to ChatGPT Free and ChatGPT Go users as part of a test pilot. The announcement was made in a blog post on Monday by the Sam Altman-led AI company. For now, the rollout is limited to the United States, with plans to expand to other regions at a later stage.

The company clarified that advertisements will only appear for free users and Go subscribers, while higher-priced subscription tiers will remain free of commercials. Notably, the ChatGPT Go subscription was made available globally on January 16, expanding access to users across all regions where the chatbot is supported.

Ads Limited to ChatGPT Free and Go Users in the US

Privacy Safeguards Highlighted by OpenAI

According to OpenAI, user privacy remains a key priority. The company stated that a user’s conversations, prompts, and interactions will not be shared with advertisers. It also emphasised that the advertised suggestions “do not influence” ChatGPT’s AI-generated responses.

OpenAI has encouraged users who prefer an ad-free experience to upgrade to Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Education subscription tiers, all of which will continue to operate without ads.

Free users, meanwhile, can opt out of seeing ads “in exchange for fewer daily free” prompts.

Why OpenAI Is Introducing Ads

Funding Infrastructure and AI Development

The company cited “significant infrastructure and ongoing investment” as the primary reason for bringing ads to ChatGPT. OpenAI said this move will help fund its AI research and operational costs while continuing to provide broader access to the chatbot for free users.

This approach signals OpenAI’s effort to balance monetisation with accessibility as usage of ChatGPT continues to grow globally.

How Ads Will Appear Inside ChatGPT

Clearly Labelled and Visually Separated

OpenAI said commercials inside ChatGPT will “always” be clearly labelled as sponsored answers and “visually separated from the organic answer”, ensuring users can easily distinguish between ads and regular AI responses.

Context-Based Ad Matching

During the test phase, ChatGPT will match ads based on:

• The topic of the user’s conversation

• Their chat history

• Other past interactions

For instance, if a user asks for a recipe, ChatGPT may display ads related to meal kits or grocery delivery services.

When multiple advertisers compete for the same placement, OpenAI said the system will prioritise what is most relevant to the user and display it at the top.

User Control and Ad Management Features

Users will have multiple options to manage their ad experience, including:

• Dismissing an ad

• Sharing feedback

• Viewing why a specific ad is shown

• Deleting ad data

• Managing ad personalisation settings

These controls aim to give users transparency and choice over how ads are displayed.

Anthropic Mocks OpenAI Over Ads

The development follows a recent marketing campaign by Anthropic, a key OpenAI rival, which mocked OpenAI through commercials claiming that ChatGPT has ads while Claude does not.

Responding to the campaign, Sam Altman criticised Anthropic’s Super Bowl advertisements, calling them deceptive and dishonest.