OpenAI today began testing an advertising feature for ChatGPT in the United States. The test targets logged-in adult users, limited to the Free and Go subscription tiers. Users of Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans will not see ads.
Ads will not influence ChatGPT's response content, and OpenAI promises to keep user conversations confidential from advertisers. OpenAI states that the purpose of ads is to provide funding support for free and low-cost services, to maintain service quality and expand the reach of AI.
If you don't want to see ads, you have two options: upgrade to a paid plan, or opt out of ads while on the Free tier—but the trade-off is a reduction in the number of free daily messages.
Ad matching is based on the current conversation topic, past chat history, and ad interaction history. For example, when you are looking for recipes, you might see ads for meal kits or grocery delivery. Ads will be clearly labeled as "Sponsored" and visually differentiated from normal responses.
Regarding privacy, advertisers cannot access users' conversation content, chat history, memories, or personal details; they can only see aggregated performance data for ads. Ads will not be shown for accounts under 18 years old or near sensitive topics such as health, mental health, or politics.
Users can view their history, manage interest tags, delete ad data, and control whether past chat history can be used to personalize ads in the ad settings.
OpenAI believes that placing ads in a conversational interface has unique value—ads can be more relevant to user needs and connect products and services in a more natural way.
The main purpose of this test is to gather feedback, ensuring the ad experience is appropriate before considering expansion. For businesses, OpenAI is just beginning to explore advertising partnership models within ChatGPT.
The core promises remain unchanged: ChatGPT's responses stay independent and impartial, conversations remain private, and users retain control over their experience.
AI commercialization takes a step forward!