Will you trust ChatGPT once it has ads?
In a surprising turn of events, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who previously described advertisements as “lame,” appears to be reconsidering their potential role in the monetization strategy for ChatGPT. As the AI chatbot celebrates its third anniversary, it has managed to attract hundreds of millions of users without a single ad in sight. This ad-free experience has become a hallmark of many successful tech platforms, such as Google and Facebook, which typically introduce ads only after establishing a substantial user base. However, recent developments suggest that OpenAI may soon follow suit, as hints from the ChatGPT Android app’s code reveal references to an “ads feature” and various ad formats.
OpenAI’s shift towards advertising seems inevitable, particularly as Altman acknowledges the need to generate revenue from the vast majority of ChatGPT users who do not pay for the service. With approximately 800 million weekly users, the company is under pressure to convert these non-paying users into revenue-generating customers. The potential introduction of ads raises critical questions about how they will be integrated into the ChatGPT experience. Will they resemble search-style intent ads, personalized ads based on user behavior, simple text links, or multimedia formats? Each of these options presents unique challenges and could significantly alter the user experience.
Moreover, the introduction of ads may impact the trust users have in ChatGPT. Internal focus groups have indicated that some users already suspect ads influence the responses they receive. This perception could complicate OpenAI’s efforts to maintain the integrity and reliability of its AI assistant. As the company navigates this delicate balance between monetization and user trust, it may opt for a more cautious approach, taking the time to refine its ad strategy before implementation. Ultimately, the evolution of ChatGPT’s advertising model will be closely watched, as it could set a precedent for how AI-driven platforms monetize their services while ensuring user satisfaction and trust.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xZQ0Sut8JY
Last year OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he thought ads were lame. Now he seems more interested.
Shelby Tauber/REUTERS
Lots of tech leaders like to say they hate ads.
Then they decide that, actually, they don’t hate ads, because ads can help them make money.
It seems like OpenAI and
Sam Altman
are headed that way with ChatGPT.
ChatGPT turned three years old
the other day, which means we’ve spent three years in an AI frenzy.
It also means hundreds of
millions of people have been using ChatGPT
for years and … not seeing any ads at all, whether they’re using the paid version or the free one.
That’s not totally astonishing: We’ve gotten used to consumer internet products like Google, Facebook, and Instagram taking off without ads for a few years. And then, the deluge.
So how much longer will ChatGPT remain ad-free? And what happens when it isn’t?
Over the weekend, we got a hint that an ad push may be underway, via some code from ChatGPT’s Android app unearthed by developer Tibor Blaho:
ChatGPT Android app 1.2025.329 beta includes new references to an “ads feature” with “bazaar content”, “search ad” and “search ads carousel”
pic.twitter.com/BdHOJIQHmA
— Tibor Blaho (@btibor91)
November 29, 2025
Scouring apps for yet-to-be-released features is a long-standing tech hobby, and sometimes it really does yield
results
. It’s also entirely possible that what Blaho found is … something other than an ad product road map.
But it still seems very, very likely that ChatGPT will have ads at some point.
We know this in part because OpenAI executives, starting with Sam Altman, have suggested they will be coming (in 2024, Altman
said
ads were gross; this year, he
allowed
that maybe OpenAI could make “some cool ad product”).
We know it because OpenAI has been stocking itself with talent from
Meta
— one of the most successful advertising companies in the world.
We know it because it’s simply logical:
Altman says ChatGPT has around 800 million weekly users
, and only a small percentage of them pay. At some point, his company will want to convert those non-paying users into revenue-generating ones, and ads are the obvious way to do that.
And we know it because on Monday, via an internal memo,
OpenAI acknowledged that it was working on ads
— but was now delaying that push, while it scrambled to improve its core product in the face of competition from Google. (I’ve asked OpenAI for comment; while we’re here, I’ll note that OpenAI has a business partnership with Axel Springer, which owns Business Insider.)
Meanwhile,
The Information
reports, OpenAI focus groups show that some ChatGPT users already assume ads play a role in the results they’re seeing.
But none of that tells us when ads will actually arrive in ChatGPT. And it certainly doesn’t address the core question about what happens when you inject ads into an answer machine: Does that machine give you the best answers? Or the answers someone has paid to give you?
Which brings us to the next question: If ads do show up, what would they look like? Because sticking ads into an AI assistant isn’t like putting them next to search results or inside a news feed. There’s no feed. There’s just the answer.
There are a few obvious possibilities, none of which are mutually exclusive:
• Search-style intent ads
This is the Google model: You tell Google exactly what you’re looking for — “dumpling spot near me,” “best Chromebook” — and advertisers bid to appear next to those queries. If ChatGPT is now a legitimate Google rival, why not use Google’s business model, too?
• Personalized ads based on everything ChatGPT knows about you
This is the Meta model: Instead of bidding on queries, advertisers target
people
, based on what it has learned about their behavior, on and off Meta’s properties.
• Old-school text links
The simplest version: “You asked for the best toaster, here are three recommendations, one of which is sponsored.” That’s basically affiliate marketing. It’s low-key and probably the least lucrative.
• Multimedia ads
You are probably typing things into ChatGPT and reading its results. But it doesn’t have to work like that: ChatGPT can already talk and show you images. Via Sora, it can show you video. The
magic device famed designer Jony Ive is building
for the service likely won’t have any screen at all. All of which means that Altman and Co. may have a choice to serve you ads that aren’t tiny boxes of text on your phone.
But no matter what route OpenAI takes, all of its ad plans will have the same peril: the possibility that injecting paid messages in a service you count on could change your relationship with that service, and weaken that trust.
It’s a gnarly problem, even for a company that’s used to moving quickly and
fixing messes
after the fact. They might move more slowly on this one than some people think.
Read the original article on
Business Insider
Eric
Eric is a seasoned journalist covering Business news.
