OpenAI to Test Ads on ChatGPT
OpenAI, maker of artificial intelligence large language model ChatGPT, announced on Friday it would begin testing ads in the U.S. to users on the free and low-cost tier ($8 a month) of ChatGPT. In a note on openai.com detailing its "ads principles," CEO of Applications Fidji Simo said the ads would appear at the bottom of the answers ChatGPT provides "when there's a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation." The company said ads would be clearly differentiated, and a user can interact with the ad by clicking to learn more about why they're seeing the ad, dismissing the ad, and sharing why they dismissed the ad.
OpenAI said it wouldn't show ads to users who tell ChatGPT they are under 18 years old — or ChatGPT predicts the user is under 18 — and ads won't appear near sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health, or politics.
The company gave a visual example of a text conversation in ChatGPT in which the LLM provides suggested dishes such as carne asada or pollo al carbon. Underneath the suggestions is an advertisement from Harvest Groceries for Ember Co. Hot Sauce.
Total Retail's Take: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a 2024 interview that he thinks of ads as a "last resort."
"I would do it if it meant that was the only way to get everybody in the world access to great services," Altman said at the time.
It appears OpenAI has hit that last resort. In his note, Simo said the ads were being rolled out to free and low-cost subscription accounts in part "so more people can benefit from our tools with fewer usage limits or without having to pay."
ChatGPT had around 810 million users in November 2025, according to TechCrunch, and the vast majority of those are on the free tier. The company said ads won't influence the answers ChatGPT gives users, and conversations will be kept private from advertisers. A spokesperson told WIRED some of a user's personal data may be used to match conversation topics to relevant advertisements, but users can turn off the data used for advertising without turning off ChatGPT's other personalization features. That could lead to distrust of the platform if users believe their conversations with the LLM are influenced by ads.
This development has the potential to be good news for retailers, especially those in niche categories that can target users with very specific needs. We know from Adobe's holiday 2025 analytics report that more and more shoppers are turning to AI for product and store recommendations. Traffic to retail sites from generative AI tools like ChatGPT increased a whopping 693 percent compared to 2024. It will be interesting to see which retailers leverage ChatGPT's user data for targeted ads and whether that leads to measurable return on investment.
