OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visits “Making Money With Charles Payne” at Fox Business Network Studios in New York on December 4, 2024.
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OpenAI announced Friday that it will begin testing ads within ChatGPT in the coming weeks. This is a highly anticipated decision that could launch a lucrative new revenue stream for artificial intelligence startups.
OpenAI said its Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscriptions will not include ads, but said it plans to begin testing with adult free users in the United States. The company also said it will make its lower-cost Go service available in the U.S. on Friday, and users who select that plan will also start seeing ads.
The company has signed more than $1.4 trillion in infrastructure deals in 2025, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in November that the company was on track to generate an annual revenue run rate of $20 billion last year.
Introducing advertising to ChatGPT could help OpenAI achieve its spending ambitions. Because digital advertising has long been a cash cow for other big tech companies, including: google and Meta.
OpenAI says ads within ChatGPT will appear at the bottom of the chatbot’s answers and will be clearly labeled.
The release said ChatGPT’s responses are not influenced by advertising and OpenAI “never” sells users’ data to advertisers.
OpenAI says ads will not be shown to users under 18, and ads will not be shown near certain topics such as politics, health or mental health.
Altman has publicly balked at introducing advertising to ChatGPT in recent years, saying in an interview that doing so could undermine user trust in OpenAI products. However, Altman said in a November podcast appearance that he expects OpenAI to experiment with advertising “at some point,” but added that he doesn’t think it will be the company’s biggest revenue opportunity.
“While we learn from your feedback and refine the way we present ads over time, our commitment to putting our users first and maintaining their trust remains the same,” OpenAI said in a statement Friday.
As OpenAI tests ads, users will learn more about why certain ads are shown and will be able to close them or provide feedback about their experience, the company said.
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