OpenAI announced the launch of advertising in ChatGPT on January 16, 2026. The company begins testing targeted ads for free users and subscribers to the new Go tier in the US. A move that CEO Sam Altman called a “last resort” back in 2024 has become reality amid $8 billion in losses.
Who Will See Ads and Who Won’t
OpenAI has clearly segmented its audience by subscription tier:
| Tier | Price | Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Yes |
| Go (new) | $8/mo | Yes |
| Plus | $20/mo | No |
| Pro | $200/mo | No |
| Business/Enterprise | Custom | No |
The new ChatGPT Go tier is a compromise between free access and the full Plus subscription. For $8 per month, users get extended context memory and more image generation capabilities. But with ads.
Ad Format and Restrictions
Ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT responses with clear labeling. OpenAI promises:
- No data sales — user conversations are not shared with advertisers
- Personalization control — targeting can be disabled in settings
- Restricted topics — no ads in conversations about health, mental health, or politics
The restrictions seem reasonable. The question is how long they will hold under advertiser pressure.
Why Now: Financial Context
The numbers explain everything. OpenAI lost nearly $8 billion in 2025 with infrastructure costs that Financial Times called an “era-defining money furnace.” Of ChatGPT’s 800 million active users, only 5% pay. That’s 40 million paying users versus 760 million free users.
The company has already committed $1.4 trillion to AI infrastructure over the next eight years. Subscriptions don’t cover these costs.
“It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don’t want to pay, so we are hopeful a business model like this can work.”
— Sam Altman, CEO OpenAI, X (January 2026)
From ‘Last Resort’ to Monetization Strategy
The contrast with Altman’s position two years ago is stark. In May 2024 at a Harvard University event, he stated:
“Ads plus AI is sort of uniquely unsettling to me.”
— Sam Altman, Harvard University event (May 2024)
Back then he called advertising a “last resort.” OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar later confirmed to the Financial Times that the company was exploring an ad model but planned to implement it “thoughtfully.”
Now thoughtfulness has given way to pragmatism. Analysts project ChatGPT’s ad revenue could reach $25 billion by 2029.
User Reaction: Wave of Negativity
OpenAI’s announcement on X garnered over 10.4 million views within hours. Comments were predominantly negative. Users perceived ChatGPT as a “clean” ad-free product. Many viewed the introduction of ads as a breach of an unspoken agreement.
Critics also point to risks: advertising can influence model responses even without direct integration into the text. Business pressure can shape how AI presents information about products and services.
AI Advertising Race: ChatGPT vs Gemini
OpenAI isn’t alone in monetizing AI assistants through advertising. Google also plans to launch ads in Gemini in 2026 with personalized shopping ads in AI Mode.
The difference in approaches is telling:
- OpenAI — advertising as a response to financial pressure, with emphasis on privacy
- Google — advertising as a natural extension of its existing ads ecosystem
For marketers, this means a new advertising channel with 800 million potential contacts. However, format and effectiveness remain uncertain — ChatGPT already processes one billion search queries weekly, and integrating ads into this flow will require careful calibration.
What This Means for the Market
The launch of ads in ChatGPT signals the AI industry’s transition from growth phase to monetization phase. Free access to cutting-edge models is a temporary phenomenon. Users will pay either with money or with attention.
Testing begins in the US “in the coming weeks,” followed by global rollout.