OpenAI announced Friday that it will begin showing ads on ChatGPT to U.S. adult users who are logged in on both the free and ChatGPT Go tiers in the coming weeks, as the artificial intelligence (AI) company expands access to low-cost subscriptions globally.
“People should know that their data and conversations are protected and will never be sold to advertisers,” OpenAI said. “And we need to keep the bar high and give users control over their experience, so they see truly relevant, high-quality ads and can even turn off personalization if they want.”
The company is positioning advertising as a way to make the benefits of artificial general intelligence (a term used to describe the stage of machine learning where AI systems can reach or exceed human-level intelligence) more accessible to the masses. He added that it could also be “transformative” for small businesses and emerging brands looking to compete.
It also emphasized that ads do not influence responses from chatbots, user data and conversations are kept private from advertisers, and users can control their ad experience. Ads are clearly labeled and appear at the bottom of a user’s conversation.
OpenAI does not provide details about what data it collects from users to serve relevant ads. Users can learn more about why they are seeing a particular ad, and can also close the ad and provide feedback. Users at the more expensive Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers don’t see ads.
“First, we plan to test ads at the bottom of ChatGPT answers when there is a relevant sponsored product or service based on the current conversation,” the company said. “During our testing, we won’t show ads to accounts where you report or predict that you’re under 18. We also won’t show ads near sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health, or politics.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X that the company does not “take money” to influence the responses ChatGPT provides to users. “It’s clear that a lot of people want to use AI in large quantities, but they don’t want to pay for it, so we’re hopeful that this kind of business model will work,” Altman added.
This development marks a major shift for the company, which has until now relied primarily on subscriptions. At an event at Harvard University in May 2024, Altman described advertising as “kind of the last resort for our business model,” and characterized advertising and AI as creating some unique anxieties.
Altman’s softening of his stance shows how OpenAI views advertising as a way to secure new revenue streams to sustain its expensive efforts. ChatGPT had 800 million weekly active users as of early October 2025.
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