OpenAI has officially begun rolling out ads inside ChatGPT. Starting today, users in the U.S. who are on the Free tier or the low-cost ChatGPT Go subscription will begin seeing sponsored placements inside the app.
Yes, ads are now part of the ChatGPT experience. But there are some important guardrails.
Who will see ads?
Ads are limited to:
• Free tier users
• Go subscribers
• Logged-in adult users
OpenAI says minors will not see ads.
If you’re on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Education, you will not see ads at all. There is also a new option for free users: You can opt out of ads, but you’ll receive fewer daily free messages in return.
How the ads work
OpenAI says ads will:
• Be clearly labeled as sponsored
• Appear separately from ChatGPT’s answers
• Not influence the AI’s responses
The company explicitly states that advertisers will not have access to:
• Chat history
• Saved memories
• Personal user information
Advertisers will only receive aggregated metrics such as impressions and clicks.
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How ads are targeted
By default, ads will be personalized based on:
• Your conversation topics
• Past chats
• Interaction with previous ads
For example, if you ask ChatGPT about recipes, you might see ads related to meal kits or grocery delivery. However, OpenAI says ads will not appear for sensitive topics, including:
• Health
• Mental health
• Politics
Users can also:
• Dismiss ads
• See why a specific ad was shown
• Disable ad personalization
• Delete ad data
Why OpenAI Is doing this
OpenAI is still not profitable. Running large AI models requires massive infrastructure and ongoing operational costs. The company says ads will help support the Free and Go tiers, which require significant investment to maintain.
If users prefer a completely ad-free experience, OpenAI’s message is simple: upgrade to a paid tier.
A big shift for AI platforms
This is the first time ChatGPT has introduced advertising at scale. OpenAI describes the rollout as a test, saying it wants to “learn, listen, and get the ad experience right.”
The company also claims that ads in ChatGPT can be “uniquely valuable for people.” Whether users agree with that remains to be seen. One thing is clear: generative AI just entered its ad-supported era.
