OpenAI is hoping to cash in big on ‘useful, entertaining’ product placements. It’s also introducing a new paid plan in the US, ChatGPT Go, which will also have ads.<\/b>
\nOpenAI is putting ads into ChatGPT in \u00ab\u00a0the coming weeks\u00a0\u00bb, as well as bringing its ChatGPT Go subscription tier to the US starting today.
The free ChatGPT and ChatGPT Go plans will have advertisements, which is the biggest news, given ChatGPT Go has already launched in 171 countries since August. For $8 per month, it offers more access to messaging, image creation, file uploads, and memory. The pricier plans, including ChatGPT Plus ($20) and Business and Enterprise, will not include ads. You also won’t see ads if you’re not logged in, which could be a way to good way to avoid them\u2014for now.
In a mockup, ChatGPT ads appear at the bottom of a chatbot’s response with a \u00ab\u00a0Sponsored\u00a0\u00bb label. They include links to click out to other sites and purchase. This could bring many more images to a standard ChatGPT conversation, which today is mostly text, aside from AI-generated images.
OpenAI says the ads will \u00ab\u00a0not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you\u00a0\u00bb and that the chatbot’s \u00ab\u00a0answers are optimized based on what’s most helpful to you.\u00a0\u00bb It also vows not to share the conversation with advertisers; however, it does seem to have certain settings that share data with advertisers, which you can toggle off.
\u00ab\u00a0You can turn off personalization, and you can clear the data used for ads at any time\u00a0\u00bb, OpenAI says. \u00ab\u00a0We\u2019ll always offer a way to not see ads in ChatGPT, including a paid tier that\u2019s ad-free.\u00a0\u00bb
m Altman told Stratechery in 2024 that he likes Instagram ads. \u00ab\u00a0I love Instagram ads, they\u2019ve added value to me, I found stuff I never would\u2019ve found, I bought a bunch of stuff, I actively like Instagram ads.\u00a0\u00bb He could be aiming for a similar result with ChatGPT.
\u00ab\u00a0The best ads are useful, entertaining, and help people discover new products and services\u00a0\u00bb, OpenAI says. Crucially, they are also lucrative, and OpenAI has to pay back its investors.
We may also see new kinds of advertisements, thanks to AI. \u00ab\u00a0For example, soon you might see an ad and be able to directly ask the questions you need to make a purchase decision\u00a0\u00bb, OpenAI says. That theoretically sounds like ChatGPT might suggest a $20 T-shirt you like, but you wonder if it comes in a long-sleeve version. You could ask the ad (retailer) directly, it could confirm there’s a long sleeve version, and then you click to go to the site to buy.
We’ll soon find out exactly what OpenAI has up its sleeve. Testing of the first formats starts \u00ab\u00a0in the coming weeks and months\u00a0\u00bb and will evolve over time.
OpenAI has reportedly been discussing ads in ChatGPT over the past year, and already faced user backlash after it tested \u00ab\u00a0app suggestions\u00a0\u00bb last month, which was a nudge for users to connect apps from partners like Target and Spotify for more in-depth answers.<\/p>\n