ChatGPT Free and Go users in US start seeing ads; CEO Sam Altman promises unbiased responses

OpenAI has started testing advertising on ChatGPT in the United States for users on its Free and Go subscription tiers, the company said in a blog post on Monday. Users on the Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers will not see ads.

Taking to X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “Ads do not influence ChatGPT’s answers. Ads are labelled as sponsored and visually separate from the response.” He added, “Our goal is to give everyone access to ChatGPT for free with fewer limits, while protecting the trust they place in it for important and personal tasks.”

How ads are shown


OpenAI explained how it chooses which ads a user sees. Ads are matched to the topic of users’ conversations, previous chats, and past ad interactions.

“For example,” the company said, “if you're researching recipes, you may see ads for meal kits or grocery delivery. If there are multiple advertisers, we'll select the one that is most relevant to your chat to show you first.”

Privacy protection

The company reassured users that advertisers do not have access to personal chats, chat history, memories, or other personal details. Advertisers only receive aggregate data about ad performance, such as views and clicks.

OpenAI added that during the test, ads will not appear for accounts where users are under 18 or predicted to be a minor. Ads are also not eligible to appear near sensitive or regulated topics such as health, mental health, or politics.

“We will continue to be deliberate about who we allow into the advertiser program and build protections to reduce the risk of scams and other harmful or misleading ads,” it said.

Users control ads

Users can manage the ads they see, including dismissing ads, providing feedback, understanding why a specific ad was shown, deleting ad data with one tap, and controlling ad personalisation at any time.

Outreach to advertisers

OpenAI has published a site called “Advertise with ChatGPT” for businesses interested in advertising on the platform, where they can sign up for updates.

Rival Anthropic has, however, criticised OpenAI’s ad approach.

Altman emphasised that OpenAI remains fundamentally opposed to ads that influence AI’s answers, drawing a clear line between advertising around AI products and advertising that could shape or influence a model’s answers.

Separately, Altman informed employees in a recent message that ChatGPT has returned to exceeding 10% monthly growth.