OpenAI to Begin Testing Ads in ChatGPT, Says Responses Will Not Be Influenced

OpenAI has officially confirmed that advertisements are coming to ChatGPT. On Friday, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) giant announced that it will soon start testing ads on its chatbot platform. Initially, these ads will only be tested in the US, but it is expected that the company will expand them everywhere once the testing phase is over. The announcement comes a month after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly declared code red and told employees to indefinitely pause any non-ChatGPT projects.

OpenAI Tests Ads in ChatGPT

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the official OpenAI handle said, “In the coming weeks, we plan to start testing ads in ChatGPT free and Go tiers.” Additionally, in a blog post, the company detailed the principles and the approach it is taking to implement advertisements on the platform.

OpenAI stated that it has established four key principles regarding ads. First, the responses in ChatGPT will not be influenced by ads, and second, ads will always be separate from the response and clearly labelled. Third, the company claimed that user conversations with AI will not be shared with advertisers. Finally, the AI giant will not introduce ads to the ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Enterprise, and Business subscribers.

Apart from this, OpenAI says that users will remain in control over how their data is used. While the company might use non-conversational data to show personalised ads, users will be able to turn it off and clear the data used for ads at any time. The AI giant also claimed that it does not plan to optimise ChatGPT to make people spend more time on the app to increase engagement and ad viewership. Interestingly, a new subscription tier that removes the ads could be in the works.

OpenAI also said that ads on the platform will focus on being informative, entertaining, and conversational. The company will also give small businesses the option to create their own AI-led experiences within ChatGPT once a user clicks on the ad. Since the company is currently testing ads, a lot can change between now and the time it rolls out for everyone, including the ad format, the eligible tiers, and the way users see them.