OpenAI has begun rolling out ads within ChatGPT, marking a major shift for a product that has worked largely without traditional advertising since its launch in 2022.
In a blog post published this week, the company confirmed that it tests ads for users signed in to its Free and Go plans in the US, while keeping paid categories like Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education free of ads. OpenAI said the move would help finance broader access to advanced AI tools without requiring every user to pay a subscription.
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“The focus of this experiment is learning,” reads the OpenAI blog. “We’re paying close attention to feedback to make sure the ads feel useful and fit naturally into what ChatGPT does before expanding.”
Ads appear outside of ChatGPT responses and are clearly labeled as sponsored content. OpenAI says that ads have no impact on how the chatbot answers questions and that user conversations are not shared with advertisers. Instead, ads are selected based on broad topics of conversation and how users interact with the ads, with restrictions in place to prevent sponsored content from appearing around sensitive topics such as health, mental health, or politics.
Those using the free ChatGPT service can opt out of ads, with a caveat.
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“If you prefer not to see ads, you can upgrade to our Plus or Pro plans, or opt out of ads in the free tier to receive a few free daily messages,” according to the company.
ChatGPT opt-out options available in user settings
Credit: Mashable Screenshot by OpenAI
Users who accept ads will also have the option to opt out of ad personalization, limiting how sponsored content is selected. There are also options to stop ChatGPT from using past AI conversations to serve ads, and to delete “all ad history and data” the company has collected from the user.
At the time of publication, Mashable attempted to display ads during regular use of ChatGPT but was unable to detect any sponsored content, consistent with OpenAI’s description of the release as a limited test rather than a full launch.
The release follows months of user confusion and frustration after widely circulated screenshots appeared showing promotional content embedded in ChatGPT replies. OpenAI has previously dismissed those incidents as ill-timed “suggestions,” but the distinction has done little to assuage concerns. As Mashable reported earlier this year, OpenAI has been quietly experimenting with ad formats internally while signaling that it will eventually need to make money to support the platform’s massive infrastructure costs.
With ChatGPT now testing ads and offering opt-out controls, OpenAI seems to be betting that transparency and choice will ease the transition to a more familiar, ad-supported model of the Internet. However, that change did not go unnoticed by competitors. Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s biggest competitors, used its Super Bowl LX ad buy to openly mock the idea of advertising within AI chatbots.
The ads promote Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude, by orchestrating situations where seemingly useful conversations suddenly devolve into awkward sales pitches, concluding with the tagline, “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.”
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that it infringes Ziff Davis’ copyrights in training and using its AI programs.
