OpenAI on Friday said it will begin testing advertising inside ChatGPT in the coming weeks, a long-anticipated move that marks a turning point for the artificial intelligence company as it searches for sustainable ways to finance the immense cost of building and running large-scale AI systems.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch — or chat. Starting in the coming weeks, U.S. users of ChatGPT will begin to see ads in the chatbot app, owner OpenAI announced Friday. The change will apply only to users of its free and low-cost service tiers, and comes as the AI startup is under pressure to dramatically ramp up its revenue to cover the more than $1 trillion it committed last year to infrastructure spending. OpenAI said ChatGPT’s responses won’t be influenced by ads, which will be labeled as such.
The ads will initially be shown to adult users on the free version of ChatGPT in the United States. OpenAI said users on its newly launched low-cost Go plan will also see ads, while subscribers on Plus, Pro, and Enterprise tiers will remain ad-free. The company framed the rollout as a test rather than a full commercial launch, signaling that the format, placement, and scope could change based on user feedback.
Ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT’s responses and will be clearly labelled, OpenAI said. The company stressed that responses generated by the chatbot will not be influenced by advertising and that it will “never” sell user data to advertisers. Users under 18 will not see ads, and advertising will be excluded from sensitive areas such as politics, health, and mental health.
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 19 (Feb 9 – May 2, 2026).
Register for Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register for Tekedia AI Lab (class begins Jan 24 2026).
The decision reflects a growing reality for OpenAI: the economics of AI at scale are brutal. Training and deploying frontier models requires massive investment in data centers, specialized chips, energy, and long-term infrastructure contracts.
In 2025, OpenAI signed more than $1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure deals, underlining how capital-intensive its ambitions have become. In November, chief executive Sam Altman said the company was on track to generate a $20 billion annualized revenue run rate last year, driven largely by subscriptions, enterprise tools, and partnerships.
Advertising offers a familiar solution. For decades, digital ads have been the financial backbone of Big Tech, allowing companies like Google and Meta to offer free services to billions of users while monetizing attention at scale. With ChatGPT now embedded in how people search for information, write, code, and solve problems, OpenAI is testing whether a similar model can work for conversational AI.
“It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don’t want to pay, so we are hopeful a business model like this can work,” Altman wrote in a post on X on Friday.
That statement captures a central tension in OpenAI’s strategy. ChatGPT’s explosive growth has been driven in large part by free access, which has helped make it a default tool for students, professionals, and casual users. At the same time, the cost of serving those users continues to rise. Ads offer a way to monetize that scale without forcing everyone into paid plans.
Still, the move carries notable risks as Altman has previously voiced reservations about introducing ads into ChatGPT, warning in interviews that advertising could undermine user trust if people believed answers were shaped by commercial incentives. In a November podcast appearance, he said he expected OpenAI to try ads “at some point,” while adding that he did not see them as the company’s biggest long-term revenue opportunity.
Those concerns remain front and center. Unlike social media feeds or search results pages, ChatGPT is often used for focused tasks such as drafting documents, researching topics, or seeking explanations. Users may be less tolerant of interruptions in a conversational interface, especially if ads feel intrusive or poorly targeted.
OpenAI appears to be trying to pre-empt that backlash by placing ads outside the main body of responses and by setting clear limits on where ads can appear. The company said users will be able to learn why they are seeing a particular ad, dismiss ads they do not want to see, and submit feedback on the experience. That level of transparency mirrors practices adopted by other major platforms under regulatory and public pressure.
The introduction of ads also coincides with the launch of OpenAI’s Go plan in the U.S., a lower-cost subscription tier that sits between the free version and more expensive paid offerings. Pairing Go with ads suggests OpenAI is experimenting with a tiered model similar to those used in streaming and media, where users trade a lower price for exposure to advertising.
From a competitive standpoint, the move positions OpenAI more squarely alongside Big Tech incumbents. Google is rapidly integrating ads into its AI-powered search experiences, while Meta is using advertising revenue to bankroll heavy investment in generative AI across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. OpenAI, which has partnered closely with Microsoft, is now signaling that it is willing to adopt the same commercial tools to remain competitive.
At the same time, OpenAI is keen to draw a line between advertising and influence. The company said ads will not affect how ChatGPT answers questions, a claim likely to face scrutiny as the test expands. Regulators, researchers, and users will be watching closely for any signs that commercial interests bleed into responses, particularly as AI systems increasingly shape how people access information.
For now, OpenAI is presenting the ad test as a cautious, limited experiment rather than a wholesale shift. The company said it will refine the experience over time based on feedback, while maintaining what it described as a commitment to putting users first.
Whether that balance can be sustained will help determine not just ChatGPT’s future, but the broader question of how generative AI is paid for. If ads prove acceptable to users, they could become a crucial pillar supporting the next phase of AI development.