{"id":625449,"date":"2026-01-17T07:54:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T05:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=625449"},"modified":"2026-01-17T07:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T05:58:24","slug":"chatgpt-is-getting-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/ai\/625449-chatgpt-is-getting-ads.html","title":{"rendered":"ChatGPT is getting ads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

OpenAI will start testing advertisements in the ChatGPT app for certain US users, marking a major shift for the company as it seeks to bolster revenue from the popular chatbot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ads will appear\u00a0in the coming weeks for logged-in users of the free version of ChatGPT as well as\u00a0a newer, lower-cost $8-a-month \u201cGo\u201d plan that first launched in India and is now expanding to the US, the company said Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more expensive paid tiers of ChatGPT\u00a0will remain free of ads.\u00a0

OpenAI\u2019s decision to embrace advertising\u00a0reflects a broader push to diversify its revenue ahead of a potential initial public offering and to help offset the immense cost of building and supporting artificial intelligence systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OpenAI, which does not expect to be profitable for years, has committed to spending about\u00a0$1.4 trillion on data centres and chips for AI.

The move represents a reversal of sorts for the company, which has primarily relied on a subscription model.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief executive officer Sam Altman had previously\u00a0expressed his personal distaste for\u00a0advertising,\u00a0framing it<\/a>\u00a0as a\u00a0\u201clast resort.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Altman had cited\u00a0concerns that users might not trust a chatbot as much if they think it\u2019s selling\u00a0products. Other rivals such as\u00a0Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google\u00a0have also begun introducing\u00a0<\/a>ads into\u00a0AI products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To start, OpenAI plans to test advertising\u00a0for sponsored products and services at the bottom of relevant responses\u00a0in ChatGPT and to clearly separate the ads from the rest of the chat.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said it believes ads could help users make better shopping decisions using the chatbot.\u00a0

\u201cOur enterprise and subscription businesses are already strong,\u201d Fidji Simo, OpenAI\u2019s CEO of applications, said in a blog post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe in having a diverse revenue model where ads can play a part in making intelligence more accessible to everyone.\u201d

OpenAI is tapping a playbook used by other large internet firms, including Meta Platforms Inc. and Google, to subsidise the cost of their products by selling targeted ads to a large audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ChatGPT maker currently has more than 800 million weekly users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several of its executives previously worked at social media firms, including\u00a0Simo, who\u00a0helped grow the Facebook app\u2019s advertising business before taking over as CEO of Instacart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the blog post, Simo said\u00a0OpenAI\u2019s\u00a0ads will not influence the answers that ChatGPT gives to users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said it also will not share conversations\u00a0with advertisers, nor will it\u00a0show ads on sensitive topics such as mental health and politics\u00a0to users it determines to be under 18. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OpenAI also said it may adapt the ad product based on initial feedback.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we introduce ads, it\u2019s crucial we preserve what makes ChatGPT valuable in the first place,\u201d Simo said. \u201cThat means you need to trust that ChatGPT\u2019s responses are driven by what\u2019s objectively useful, never by advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The more expensive paid tiers of ChatGPT\u00a0will remain free of ads.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":561313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92837],"tags":[88872,83065,102904,21795,2316,45266,83585],"class_list":["post-625449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","tag-ai-chatbots","tag-chatgpt","tag-fidji-simo","tag-online-ads","tag-online-advertising","tag-openai","tag-sam-altman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625450,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625449\/revisions\/625450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}