At a Glance
- OpenAI will start testing ads in the free and $8-a-month “Go” tiers of ChatGPT within weeks
- Ads appear only at the bottom of answers, stay out of health, mental-health and politics chats
- Paying Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise subscribers keep an ad-free experience
Why it matters: Millions of casual users will soon see sponsored prompts inside the world’s most popular AI chatbot.
OpenAI is adding advertisements to portions of ChatGPT for the first time, the company announced Friday, while promising that sponsors will never shape the bot’s replies.
Some versions of the chatbot will begin “testing ads” in the coming weeks, limited to logged-in adults in the United States who rely on the free or low-cost “Go” subscription.
Higher-priced tiers-Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise-will remain ad-free, OpenAI said in a statement released to News Of Philadelphia.
Where the ads will show
Users will encounter promotions “at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation,” according to the company.
Each ad will be:
- Clearly labeled as sponsored content
- Excluded from “sensitive or regulated topics” such as health, mental health or politics
- Separate from the core answer, never embedded in the response text
OpenAI stressed that “ads are always separate and clearly labeled” and that “advertising will not influence” the information the bot supplies.
Data privacy pledges
The San Francisco-based firm offered several reassurances about user data:
- Advertisers will not have access to individual ChatGPT conversations
- OpenAI will “never sell your data to advertisers”
- Users can disable personalization and erase advertising-related data at any time
Go tier goes global
Alongside the ad announcement, OpenAI said its budget subscription-ChatGPT Go-will roll out “everywhere ChatGPT is available.”
The plan costs $8 per month for U.S. subscribers after debuting in India last August.
The board of directors of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Altman stepped down Friday after a review found him “not consistently candid in his communications with the board.”
