OpenAI is gearing up to test ads within ChatGPT in the next few weeks, signaling a big change for one of the most popular AI tools globally. The company shared on Friday that they will first roll out these ad tests in the United States before expanding to other countries.
According to OpenAI, the advertisements won’t affect ChatGPT’s responses, and all ads will be displayed in distinct, clearly labeled boxes right below the chatbot’s answers. For example, if someone asks ChatGPT for tips on planning a trip to New York City, they will receive the standard response from the chatbot, followed by an ad for a local hotel.
“People trust ChatGPT for various important and personal tasks, so it’s essential we maintain what makes ChatGPT valuable as we introduce ads,” stated OpenAI’s CEO of applications, Fidji Simo, in a blog post about the ad testing. “You need to trust that ChatGPT’s answers are based on objective usefulness and not driven by advertising.”
The initial ads will be visible to logged-in users on ChatGPT’s free tier and the new $8-a-month Go tier, which starts rolling out to U.S. users on Friday. The Go tier, already available in India, France, and other regions, allows users to send more messages and generate more images compared to the free version. Users subscribed to Plus, Pro, and Enterprise plans will not see any ads.
OpenAI also laid out the principles shaping its advertising strategy. The company emphasized that it will not sell user data or share conversations with advertisers. As a result, advertisers won’t have access to personal information like a user’s age, location, or interests—common practices in ad targeting across the internet.
Instead, an OpenAI representative informed WIRED that advertisers will receive aggregate metrics on ad performance, such as how often an ad appears in ChatGPT or the number of clicks it receives.
To choose which ads are shown, OpenAI plans to align conversation topics with relevant ads. Although some personalization data may be utilized for this process, the spokesperson mentioned that users can opt out of the data used for advertising while still keeping other personalization features active.
While the spokesperson didn’t specify exactly what user data would be collected for ad targeting, it’s worth noting that ChatGPT already gathers considerable data to enhance its responses. Users can instruct the chatbot to remember personal details like hobbies or dietary restrictions to provide tailored responses. OpenAI has also improved the product’s memory capabilities over the past year, allowing ChatGPT to reference previous conversations in its replies. In its blog post, the company stated that “users can clear the data used for ads at any time.”
