OpenAI starts testing ads in ChatGPT

OpenAI starts testing ads in ChatGPT for Free and Go tiers in the US. Sponsored content will be conversationally relevant with options for user privacy control.

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Users on ChatGPT’s Free and Go tiers in the United States may begin to notice a shift in their user experience, as OpenAI has officially kicked off a testing phase for advertisements within the chatbot. The company had previously signaled its intention to introduce sponsored content, noting that it would display products and services relevant to a logged-in user’s current conversation . However, OpenAI has emphasized user control , allowing individuals to disable personalization and “clear the data used for ads” at their discretion .

“Our goal is for ads to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while maintaining the trust people place in ChatGPT for important and personal tasks,” OpenAI stated in a blog post regarding the update. “We’re starting with a test to learn, listen and make sure we get the experience right.”

Regarding placement , these advertisements are designed to be unobtrusive; they will appear at the bottom of the chat interface, clearly labeled and visually distinct from ChatGPT’s generated answers. Importantly, the company assures users that the presence of ads will have no influence on the AI’s actual responses .

To address safety concerns , OpenAI has established guardrails preventing ads from appearing during conversations about regulated or sensitive topics, such as politics , health , or mental well-being. Furthermore, the test excludes users under the age of 18 . On the privacy front, OpenAI has firmly stated that it will not sell or share user conversations or data with advertisers .

From a business perspective , a source close to the matter told CNBC that OpenAI anticipates advertising will eventually account for less than half of its long-term revenue . Currently, the company also generates income by taking a cut of purchases made through the chatbot’s shopping integration feature . In related news, CNBC also reported that CEO Sam Altman informed staff on Friday that an “updated Chat model” is slated for deployment this week .

The launch of this testing phase arrives just after competitor Anthropic utilized a Super Bowl spot to poke fun at OpenAI’s shift toward advertising. In the commercial , Anthropic acknowledged that while “ads are coming to AI,” they would remain absent from its own chatbot, Claude .