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after Weeks of excitementI started OpenAI Test ads Within ChatGPT in the US, representing a major evolution in the product’s business model and user experience. The rollout affects those with the free tier plans and the new lower-cost ChatGPT Go plan. Those on paid tiers like Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise will remain ad-free.
The company says this early advertising trial is part of its effort to support broader access to powerful AI features while helping fund the infrastructure and development that keeps ChatGPT running at scale.
The company says the ads will be clearly labeled as sponsored and visually separated from the chatbot’s answers.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that it infringed Ziff Davis’s copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Read also: ChatGPT Free vs. ChatGPT Plus: Paying $20 per month is worth it
Ad control and privacy
According to OpenAIAds will not affect chatbot responses or compromise privacy. Conversations and personal chat data will not be shared with advertisers. You’ll also have control over your advertising experience, including toggles for personalization or the option to opt out entirely in exchange for fewer free messages.
As part of the rollout process, each ad is matched to the topic the user is actually discussing, though safeguards are in place to prevent ads from appearing in sensitive contexts, such as health or political discussions.
The company emphasizes that this initial stage represents an opportunity to test and learn. Feedback from early adopters will help shape how ads are improved and potentially expanded in the future. OpenAI says it will use insights from this pilot program to achieve a better balance between monetization and user experience.
Wider implications
The introduction of advertising in ChatGPT comes amid increasing competitive pressures in the AI industry and increasing expectations around sustainable revenue models for large AI platforms. While the move has drawn mixed reactions from users and industry observers, OpenAI maintains that the ads are intended to support free and low-cost access.
As testing continues, OpenAI’s approach will likely impact how other AI companies think about monetization and the role of advertising in conversational AI tools, although some platforms – Like anthropic -I “promised” to never include ads. Anthropic even ran a Super Bowl series Commercialsmocks the idea of ads appearing in AI discussions. In one, for example, a young man asks an AI for help getting abs, and the AI, in the form of a personal trainer, starts helping him, and then starts selling imaginary slippers that will make him taller.