ChatGPT to start showing ads in the US as company explores additional revenue streams

The New Sponsored Content Will Be Shown to Free and $8 'Go' Tiers in the U.S.

OpenAI announced on Friday, January 16, 2026, that it will begin testing advertisements within ChatGPT "in the coming weeks," marking a major strategic pivot for the AI startup. The move, designed to offset the multi-billion dollar costs of running its massive AI models, will initially target adult users in the United States on the Free tier and the newly launched ChatGPT Go subscription priced at $8 per month.

Sponsored suggestions with UX in mind

OpenAI has emphasized that the introduction of ads will be handled "with care" to maintain user trust, drawing inspiration from the contextual nature of Instagram's ad platform.

Ads will appear at the bottom of a response as clearly labeled "Sponsored" banners or suggestions. The system will use the current conversation to trigger relevant ads. For example, asking for travel advice might result in a sponsored link for a hotel or flight booking service.

Importantly, OpenAI stated that advertisers cannot pay to influence the actual text of ChatGPT's organic responses. The AI’s "answers" remain independent of the advertising bids.

Ad-free tiers

Premium subscribers on the Plus ($20/mo), Pro ($200/mo), Business, and Enterprise plans will remain entirely ad-free.

Guardrails and privacy commitments

Anticipating a potential backlash regarding data privacy, OpenAI outlined several "strict guardrails" for the initial testing phase:

• Age limits: Ads will not be shown to users identified or predicted to be under the age of 18.

• Topic exclusions: Sponsored content is banned from appearing alongside sensitive or regulated topics, including health, mental health, and politics.

  
  

• Data privacy: OpenAI reiterated its commitment to never selling individual user data to advertisers. Conversations remain private, and users can opt out of ad personalization or clear the data used to generate sponsored replies at any time.

The economic reality: Monetizing one billion users

The shift toward an ad-supported model brings OpenAI’s business closer to tech giants like Google and Meta. Despite a staggering valuation of $500 billion, OpenAI faces over $1 trillion in long-term financial obligations for chips and data centers.

"It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don't want to pay," CEO Sam Altman posted on X. "We are hopeful a business model like this can work."

By monetizing its massive base of nearly one billion weekly active users, OpenAI hopes to subsidize the extreme costs of AGI development while keeping the basic technology accessible to everyone.