Ads Are Coming to ChatGPT. Here’s What That Means for Users.

With sky-high computing costs and concerns about the return on those investments, it seemed inevitable that OpenAI would eventually introduce advertisements into ChatGPT. But this would also open up a Pandora’s box of ethical issues, and risks violating users’ trust in the long run. Less than two years ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he found the combination of ads and AI “uniquely unsettling,” and that it would be a “last resort” for OpenAI.

OpenAI must be out of options, then, because it recently announced that it will begin advertising to those who use ChatGPT’s free product or its cheapest subscription tier, which costs $8 per month. The company stressed that advertising dollars will not influence what its chatbot says to a user. Ads will be separated from chatbot responses, and they will be labeled as sponsored. 

OpenAI believes that a principled advertising philosophy will preserve users’ trust while providing the revenue needed to scale its AI models. But as we’ve seen with social media platforms, data privacy policies can get muddied over time in favor of advertiser interests. Will OpenAI and other AI developers continue to value data privacy and editorial independence in an AI arms race increasingly defined by costly infrastructure investments? We’ll soon find out.

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Why Is ChatGPT Launching Ads?

OpenAI knows that ads will be unpopular with users. Just last month, the company turned off an app recommendation feature because the irrelevant pop-up suggestions were detracting from the experience of Pro- and Plus-level subscribers. But not everyone is willing to pay for ChatGPT, and OpenAI is more willing to tinker with those users’ experience to fund the company’s mounting computing costs.

The clock is ticking for OpenAI, which hopes to become profitable by 2030. While the company earned $20 billion in annual recurring revenue last year, it’s got a long way to go to pay down the $1.4 trillion it plans to spend on data center infrastructure over the next eight years. While other AI developers like Google and Meta have lucrative advertising businesses to fund their investments in computing power, OpenAI has funded its cloud deals through various circular financing agreements, venture capital funding and its former partnership with Microsoft.

The company could get a quick infusion of cash by going public, but investors are growing wary about AI companies due to fear about an AI bubble. A successful advertising model could assuage these fears, and it could provide the revenue the company needs to access additional computing power and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Altman recently declared a “code red” effort to improve ChatGPT’s performance after the launch of Google’s Gemini 3, which outperformed OpenAI’s GPT-5 on key benchmarks and garnered praise from tech industry heavyweights. 

OpenAI has so far scaled its computing power at the same pace as it has grown revenue, according to OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar. This foray into advertising will help the company afford additional computing power that will unlock new capabilities, like scientific research and financial modeling, which will in turn open up new revenue streams, such as licensing and outcome-based pricing. At the same time, ads will ensure people can continue to access ChatGPT for free and with fewer usage limits, the company said.

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What Does This Mean for Users?

OpenAI seems to acknowledge the potential for advertising to violate users’ trust. In its blog post, the company said it’s “crucial” to “preserve what makes ChatGPT valuable in the first place.”

“That means you need to trust that ChatGPT’s responses are driven by what’s objectively useful, never by advertising,” the company wrote. “You need to know that your data and conversations are protected and never sold to advertisers. And we need to keep a high bar and give you control over your experience so you see truly relevant, high-quality ads — and can turn off personalization if you want.”

While advertising will not influence chatbot responses, a user’s chatbot queries can influence what ads they see. The platform might show an ad for online groceries if a user is looking up a recipe, for example, or it may advertise a hotel if they’re planning a vacation. The company insists that users’ conversations will not be shared with advertisers, and it will allow users to opt out of ad personalization.

OpenAI went on to say that it will not serve ads to children, and that ads won’t appear near sensitive or regulated topics, such as health, mental health or politics.

The company also said it does not optimize its product for time spent in ChatGPT. In other words, the company could design ChatGPT similar to a social media platform, which are designed to keep users engaged for longer amounts of time. But OpenAI said ChatGPT will be different, and that it will prioritize user trust and user experience over revenue.

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Meanwhile, Google Holds Off on Gemini Ads

Google, meanwhile, has said it doesn’t plan to inject ads into its Gemini chatbot. But it does show ads in Google AI Overviews, an AI-generated summary shown above Google search results, as well as Google AI Mode, the AI-powered search tool it launched last year.

Google’s introduction of ads in AI Overviews largely went unnoticed, as ads are a common sight in Google search. But the company has been more cautious with testing ads in Google AI mode. Most recently, Google enabled advertisers to offer exclusive discounts to shoppers who show interest in a product. The feature, known as Direct Offers, was announced in tandem with an agentic commerce tool that allows shoppers to buy products from Target, Walmart and other top retailers within AI Mode and Gemini.

When rolling out ad products, Google has been careful to distinguish between search tools and Gemini. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told Axios that, while search is driven by clear user intent, AI assistants like Gemini are meant to work on the user’s behalf. Dan Taylor, vice president of Google Ads, put it another way in a Business Insider interview: search is for discovering information, whereas Gemini helps a user “create, analyze and complete that.”

Google has been clarifying its position on Gemini ads since December 2025, when Ad Week reported that Gemini would be launching ads in Gemini in 2026. That report was based on anonymous agency buyers who said Google reps discussed Gemini ads with at least two advertising clients. Taylor, the Google Ads exec, disputed the accuracy of the report, saying “there are no current plans” to include ads in the Gemini app. Taylor reiterated that denial a month later to Business Insider, saying there are “no plans for ads in the Gemini app.”

While Gemini doesn’t have any plans to include ads in Gemini, Hassabis told Axios his team is thinking “very carefully” about the subject and is monitoring how users react to OpenAI’s ad launch. 

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