OpenAI Introduces Advertising to ChatGPT: What Advertisers Need to Know

OpenAI has announced it will begin testing advertising in ChatGPT, marking a meaningful step in the platform’s evolution from a purely subscription-supported model to a hybrid, ad-supported one. 

Here are the details:

The initial test is limited in scope. Ads will appear only for logged-in adults in the U.S. using the Free and Go tiers. Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers will remain ad-free. Ads will not be shown to users under 18 and will be excluded from sensitive or regulated categories such as health, mental health, and politics.

According to OpenAI, ads will be clearly labeled and displayed separately from model responses. The company states that advertising will not influence how answers are generated, positioning ads as an adjacent commercial layer rather than an input into the model’s reasoning or outputs.

OpenAI has also outlined a set of principles intended to govern this rollout. These include maintaining conversation privacy, not selling user data to advertisers, and giving users control over personalization, including the ability to turn it off and clear ad-related data. Premium paid tiers will remain ad-free. The company emphasizes that user trust and experience are intended to take precedence over revenue.

PMG has been expecting this announcement for some time. Advertising is a practical way to monetize large-scale AI systems, which are inherently resource-intensive to operate. In a subscription-only or free model, increased usage directly increases costs while revenue remains fixed or capped. An advertising model changes that dynamic: as usage grows, monetization opportunities grow alongside it, allowing revenue to scale more linearly with consumption.

What is notable is the deliberate pacing and framing of this introduction, and the extent to which OpenAI is emphasizing trust, privacy, and platform integrity as it begins to test this model.

From a marketer’s perspective, the introduction of advertising creates a new, more direct signal where previously much of the impact of LLMs on commerce had to be inferred indirectly. To date, understanding how ChatGPT and similar systems influence purchasing behavior has relied on proxy indicators: visibility studies, prompt monitoring, anecdotal user behavior, and downstream performance correlations.

Advertising introduces a clearer feedback loop. If users click on an ad and convert, that activity provides tangible evidence of commercial intent and outcome within an LLM-mediated experience. While this will represent only a subset of total usage, it adds an important new data point for understanding how conversational AI influences consideration and conversion.

Over time, aggregated performance data may also help clarify patterns around prompt volume, intent categories, and use cases where commercial opportunities emerge most frequently. This will not tell the whole story, but it meaningfully expands the toolkit available for measurement and analysis.

Execution will matter. OpenAI’s stated intent is to avoid interruptive experiences and to preserve the conversational flow that makes ChatGPT valuable. Whether that holds will depend on what the ad units look like, how they are triggered, and whether they provide information users actually find useful.

There is potential upside if ads are grounded in reliable data sources—such as structured feeds or verified offers—and are clearly positioned as commercial options rather than blended into answers. In scenarios where users are already exploring purchases, travel planning, or complex decisions, well-designed ads could add value by offering concrete next steps, pricing, or availability without undermining trust.

The separation between ads and answers will be particularly important for platform credibility. Traditional search has long relied on a conceptual separation between paid and organic results, even as those boundaries have blurred in AI-driven interfaces. Maintaining a clear distinction helps protect the perceived neutrality and usefulness of the system, especially as AI becomes a primary interface for information and decision-making.

ChatGPT is a highly personal tool, and its usefulness increases as users share more context. OpenAI’s commitment to keeping conversations private from advertisers and not selling user data addresses a key concern, though details around enforcement and implementation will matter as the system evolves.

User control over personalization and data usage aligns with broader expectations around transparency and consent. As with any ad-supported platform, sustaining trust will require consistent follow-through, particularly as revenue pressures grow.

Finally, it is worth noting that introducing advertising to a product where users are not conditioned to expect it presents a different challenge than in traditional search or social platforms. Google’s AI experiences sit atop decades of ad-supported search behavior, whereas ChatGPT users are still learning what the platform is—and what it is not.

We expect to see a gradual rollout, experimentation, and iteration. Early versions may be uneven as OpenAI balances monetization with experience, which is typical for platforms building advertising systems.

Though no immediate action is needed, the pace of change in AI is unprecedented, so it will be important to think through what implications these developments will have on a brand’s overarching strategy. As OpenAI works with a limited set of brands in early tests, understanding how ads are triggered, displayed, and measured will be critical.

We will continue tracking developments and advising brands as clearer patterns emerge.