OpenAI has officially started ChatGPT ads testing on its free and $8/month plans. There are different levels of Go subscriptions for people in the US. This first test is a big change in how the popular chatbot makes money. For the first time, adding sponsored content to the conversational AI experience could help it reach a larger audience.
How does the ChatGPT ads testing rollout work?
There are rules and a good plan for the start of the ChatGPT ads testing phase. Only U.S. users on the free or Go plans will see the ads. Customers with Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Education accounts won’t see any ads either.
The ads are “sponsored” because they are at the bottom of the chatbot’s answers, which is not how ChatGPT usually answers.
- Contextual and Controlled: Ads are based on what you’ve said, what you’ve said before, and what you’ve done with other ads. If you talk about recipes, for example, you might see an ad for a meal kit or a service that brings you groceries.
- User Protections: OpenAI won’t show ads to accounts that it thinks belong to people who are less than 18 years old. Ads also can’t be next to conversations about touchy subjects like politics, health, or mental health.
- Privacy First: OpenAI says that conversations and personal information of users are kept private and not shared with or sold to advertisers. Advertisers will only be able to see how many people looked at and clicked on their ads.
Why is OpenAI conducting ChatGPT ads testing?
According to OpenAI, they hope to increase the number of people who can use their AI tools by using the money they earn from advertisements. The company must spend a lot of money maintaining and improving its services because it has hundreds of millions of users.
Helping the business generate more revenue from sources other than subscriptions is the aim of the ChatGPT ads testing project. This will help maintain inexpensive and free access.
This action has changed the public stance of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a lot. He said in late 2024 that he was very worried about AI ads and called the idea “uniquely unsettling.” He reversed his position and now endorses the tested model, asserting that contextual ads do not alter the chatbot’s response.
There are many ways to keep the ChatGPT ads testing under control so that people will trust it.
- Transparency and Feedback: People can see why they were shown an ad and either ignore it or give feedback.
- Data Management: People can stop personalized ads, stop ads from being based on past chats, and delete any information they have about ads at any time.
- Opt-Out Options: Choosing to see ads allows more free messages daily. You can only get rid of ads if you upgrade to a Plus, Pro, or higher plan. If you are on the Go tier,
The future shaped by ChatGPT ads testing
The outcome of this first round of ChatGPT ads testing will determine what happens next. There is a lot of potential, according to analysts. OpenAI’s ad business could make a few billion dollars this year and $25 billion by 2030 if all goes well. To demonstrate its usefulness to advertisers, it must be performance-driven.
The test is only available in the U.S. for now, and OpenAI hasn’t said when it will be available to more people. The business wants to make things better by hearing what customers have to say.
The big question for the long term is whether this careful, contextual method can become a major source of income without losing the trust of the people who made ChatGPT so popular in the first place.
The news that ChatGPT is testing ads has made the philosophical gap between big AI companies even bigger. Anthropic, OpenAI’s biggest rival, ran a Super Bowl ad campaign that directly went after the idea of AI chatbots having ads. “Ads are coming to AI” was the campaign’s tagline. But not to Claude.
FAQ
Q: Who will see ads in ChatGPT?
Only logged-in adults in the US who are on the free or $8/month A Go subscription plan can see the first round of ChatGPT ads. Paid subscriptions like Plus, Pro, and Business still have no ads.
Q: Can I stop the ads?
Yes. People who use the free tier can choose to avoid ads in exchange for getting fewer free messages each day. People who use the free or Go tiers can turn off personalized ads and delete their ad data in the settings. To get rid of ads completely, users must sign up for a Plus plan or higher.
Q: Do ads make ChatGPT say different things?
OpenAI says that ads don’t change the answers ChatGPT gives and aren’t related to them. Responses are based on what is “most helpful,” not on any ads.
Q: Do advertisers have access to the data from my conversations?
OpenAI says that it doesn’t sell or give advertisers access to users’ conversations or personal information. Advertisers only get performance data that isn’t tied to a certain person.
