OpenAI to test advertising in ChatGPT to broaden revenue streams

OpenAI is preparing to introduce advertising on ChatGPT, marking a significant shift in its monetisation strategy as it looks to unlock new revenue streams and support the rising costs of developing artificial intelligence infrastructure. The San Francisco–headquartered company has announced that it will begin testing advertisements in the coming weeks for logged-in adult users in the US on its free tier and its lower-priced Go subscription.

The ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT responses and will be clearly labelled and visually separated from organic answers. According to the company, advertisements will only be shown when relevant to a user’s current query. Higher-priced subscriptions, including Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise, will remain entirely ad-free.

The move reflects growing financial pressure on OpenAI, which has committed to spending roughly $1.4 trillion over the next decade on data centres and computing resources. The company does not expect to reach profitability for several years.

Advertising is being positioned as one of several business lines that could help fund this level of investment. OpenAI is also understood to be in early discussions with investors about a potential funding round that could raise around $80 billion.

OpenAI anticipates generating a low billions of dollars in advertising revenue in 2026, with expectations of stronger growth in the years that follow. The company had previously explored the idea of ads in late 2024 but paused the effort as it shifted focus to competing more aggressively with rivals such as Google and Anthropic.

Advertising has long been a cornerstone of growth for digital giants such as Google and Meta, but OpenAI had previously resisted the model over concerns it could undermine trust in ChatGPT’s responses. With the chatbot now used for a wide range of personal and professional tasks, the company has emphasised that ads will not influence answers and that conversations will not be shared with advertisers.

In recent months, OpenAI has enhanced ChatGPT’s ability to store and recall information from past interactions, enabling more personalised experiences. While this capability could support more targeted advertising, users will retain control, with the option to turn off personalisation and delete stored data.

The advertising rollout comes as part of broader expansion plans. ChatGPT Go, priced at $8 per month, has already launched in 171 countries since August and is now being extended to the US and additional markets. OpenAI is also developing AI hardware, enterprise and government solutions, and new shopping tools, as it works towards building a diversified and sustainable revenue model in an increasingly competitive AI landscape.