OpenAI to finally bring ads to ChatGPT

OpenAI is now doing what everyone thought it would eventually do: serving ads on ChatGPT.

After weeks of user frustration with what appeared to be ads slipping into conversations, OpenAI finally laid its cards on the table. In a blog post published Friday, the company confirmed plans to begin testing ads in ChatGPT for US users on the Free and Go tiers, while promising that paid tiers like Pro, Business, and Enterprise will remain ad-free.

OpenAI insists that this is not a betrayal of trust, but a compromise.

“As ChatGPT becomes more capable and widely used, we are looking for ways to continue to offer more information to everyone,” the company wrote, pitching ads as a way to expand access without requiring users to pay. The company also emphasized a hard line between replies and advertising, saying users should trust that ChatGPT’s replies are “driven by what is objectively useful, never by advertising,” and that conversations will not be shared or sold to advertisers.

This assurance comes after a few complicated months. In December, ChatGPT users flooded social media with screenshots of chatbot responses suggesting apps, stores, or products completely unrelated to their prompts.

OpenAI pushed back, saying these were simply poorly timed “suggestions,” but the distinction was not made. Even users paying $200 per month for ChatGPT Pro said the experience was not good.

But behind the scenes, advertising is clearly on the roadmap. A report earlier this month revealed that OpenAI was quietly testing ad concepts internally, experimenting with layouts and disclosures designed to create what employees described as “a new type of digital ads” that wouldn’t immediately drive users away.

And CEO Sam Altman hasn’t exactly been subtle about his embrace of the idea. In June, he said he wasn’t “totally against” ads in ChatGPT, even calling Instagram ads “pretty cool” — a quote that has aged as well as everyone expected. At the time, Altman emphasized that the ads would require extreme caution to be successful. Today, this theoretical future becomes real.

OpenAI says ads will be clearly labeled, placed separately from replies, and initially only displayed when there is a “relevant sponsored product or service” linked to a conversation. Users will be able to skip ads or turn off personalization altogether, and ads won’t appear to accounts under 18 or about sensitive topics like health or politics.

It remains to be seen whether this is enough to prevent ChatGPT from looking like just another stream. But with operating costs estimated in the billions and AI companies racing to prove sustainable business models, the ad-free chatbot era was likely always going to be temporary.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, filed a lawsuit in April against OpenAI, alleging that it violated Ziff Davis’ copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.