OpenAI has officially begun testing advertisements in ChatGPT for users in the United States, marking a significant shift in the company’s monetization strategy. The ad testing initiative targets users on the Free and Go subscription tiers, while paid subscribers across Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans will remain ad-free.

Who Will See Ads and How They’ll Work

The advertisement rollout only applies to logged-in adult users on the Free and Go tiers, with the $8-per-month Go plan being OpenAI’s more recent low-cost subscription option introduced globally in January. Minors will not be shown advertisements under any circumstances.

Ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT responses and will be clearly labeled as sponsored content, visually separated from the organic answer. OpenAI will personalize advertisements by matching them to the topic of your current conversation, your past chat history, and your previous interactions with ads. For example, users researching recipes may see advertisements for meal kit services or grocery delivery platforms.

Privacy and User Control Measures

OpenAI has emphasized that advertisements do not influence ChatGPT’s responses, and user conversations remain private from advertisers. The company states that answers are optimized based on what’s most helpful to users, regardless of advertising considerations.

Users have significant control over their ad experience, including the ability to:

• Dismiss any advertisement
• View their complete ad interaction history
• Clear ad data at any time
• Manage ad personalization settings
• Learn why they were shown specific ads

Advertisements will not appear near sensitive or regulated topics including health, mental health, and politics.

The Broader Context

The ad rollout comes shortly after Anthropic, OpenAI’s competitor, aired a Super Bowl advertisement critiquing the introduction of ads to AI chatbots. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously described advertising as “a last resort” for the company, but the move now reflects the organization’s efforts to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while generating additional revenue.

Free and Go users who prefer to avoid advertisements entirely can opt out, though this may result in a reduced number of daily free messages.

OpenAI has stated it is approaching this initial phase as a test period, meaning implementation details may evolve as the company gathers user feedback and monitors the overall user experience.

Photo by Alexandra_Koch on Pixabay