ChatGPT tests ads on its free plan

OpenAI will bring ads to ChatGPT in the United States over the next few weeks, but only as a test for adults using the free plan or ChatGPT Go. The company says the ads will remain separate from responses and will not influence what the assistant says.

At the same time, ChatGPT Go is launching in the United States and all markets where ChatGPT is available. The plan costs 8 dollars per month and includes more messages, image creation, file uploads and memory than the free version.

How the ads will work

OpenAI has not started showing them yet. In the first test, ads will appear below some responses when a sponsored product or service is related to the conversation.

Each ad will be labeled as advertising and separated from the regular response. You will also be able to:

• See why an ad appears.
• Hide it and explain why.
• Turn off personalization.
• Delete the data used to show ads.

The company says conversations will remain private and that it will not sell user data to advertisers. Ads will also be unavailable on accounts that the user identifies, or the system predicts, as belonging to people under 18.

They will not appear alongside sensitive or regulated topics, such as physical health, mental health or politics, at least during this initial phase.

What will not change in responses

The central point in OpenAI's announcement is that advertising will not be able to modify ChatGPT's responses. If you ask which laptop to buy, for example, the assistant should build its answer around what is most useful for you, not which brand paid to appear.

The Pro, Business and Enterprise plans will remain ad-free. OpenAI also promises that there will always be a paid, ad-free option for people who prefer not to see advertising.

The company says it does not want to optimize ChatGPT so that you spend more time inside the app. Its stated priority is to preserve the product's usefulness and user trust, even if ads become a new source of revenue.

What changes for you

If you use ChatGPT for free in the United States, you could start seeing ads in the next few weeks. For now, the test is not announced for every country or every account, and OpenAI may adjust the format based on user feedback.

The idea is for the ads to be more interactive than a traditional banner. In the future, you might be able to chat with an ad to get answers before buying a product, although that possibility is still part of the company's plans, not the initial test.

For people who need more capacity, the alternative will be to pay 8 dollars per month for ChatGPT Go or choose a higher-tier plan without ads. OpenAI launched Go in 171 countries since August and is now extending it across its entire international footprint.

The test will show whether OpenAI can fund broader access to AI without mixing commercial interests into its responses. The key questions will be whether the ads remain clearly identifiable, whether personalization provides enough control and whether the promised privacy holds up in practice.