ChatGPT is getting ads soon, starting with free users
Key Points
- 1ChatGPT is introducing contextually relevant advertisements for some free users and new Go tier subscribers, appearing below AI responses and marked as sponsored.
- 2These ads will not influence the chatbot's answers, avoid sensitive topics like health and politics, and exclude minors, while users can control personalization and advertisers won't access conversations.
- 3OpenAI is implementing these monetization strategies, alongside the $8/month Go tier offering advanced features, to reach profitability, and has also quietly expanded into machine translation.
ChatGPT is introducing advertising to its platform, a move anticipated for weeks and now confirmed to roll out for some free users and subscribers of its new, least expensive "Go" tier, which became globally available this week. US users will begin seeing these ads in the coming weeks unless they subscribe to the Plus or Pro tiers. Notably, the chatbot will not display ads to users under 18 or detected as minors. Ads will generally appear below the AI's responses, designed to be contextually relevant to the conversation without influencing the chatbot's answers. OpenAI has stated that advertisers will not have access to user conversations. Examples provided include a hot sauce ad below dinner party recipe suggestions and a trip planning service ad following an answer about Santa Fe, both clearly marked as sponsored. Tapping an ad button will open a second chatbot window for more information. Specific conversation topics, such as health or politics, will be exempt from ad display. Users also retain control, with options to turn off ad personalization and delete associated data. Indications of this advertising strategy emerged in October through reports of OpenAI hiring former Meta employees and later via discovered code referencing ads in a beta version of ChatGPT's Android app.
In a related development, the new "Go" subscription tier, previously tested in India and other countries, is now available in the US for $8 per month. This tier offers subscribers 10 times more interactions than the free tier, access to the latest GPT-5.2 model, and expanded memory capabilities. The introduction of ads and new subscription tiers is driven by OpenAI's current unprofitability, with approximately 95% of its nearly one billion weekly users relying on the free service.
Additionally, ChatGPT has quietly expanded into machine translation this week. The new translation tool currently mirrors Google Translate's web interface, supports 47 languages, and allows users to switch between four different tones. While options for image and audio translation are visible within the interface, these functionalities are not yet operational.