A significant conversation within and beyond the tech world has centered on how and when OpenAI will become profitable. The company, currently valued at $500 billion, appears to have found one clear path forward: advertising. This week, OpenAI announced it will begin testing limited ads for certain ChatGPT users.
In a recent blog post, the company stated it will start running ads in the United States for users on its free tier and its new Go tier. The Go subscription, priced at $8 per month, was introduced globally on the same day. OpenAI presents this advertising move as a method to sustain free access while generating revenue from users not yet ready for a paid subscription. For now, the company’s more expensive paid tiers—Pro, Plus, Business, and Enterprise—will remain ad-free.
These ads will appear at the bottom of a user’s conversation and will be targeted based on the discussion topic. Users will retain some control, with the ability to dismiss ads, see explanations for why a specific ad is shown, and turn off personalization, which would remove the targeted nature of the ads. OpenAI has also committed to not serving ads to users it believes are under the age of 18.
The company emphasizes that ChatGPT will maintain “answer independence,” meaning the incorporated ads will not influence the chatbot’s responses. OpenAI has also promised not to sell user data to advertisers.
This advertising strategy could benefit OpenAI in two key ways. It obviously creates a new stream of ad revenue from the large user base on free and Go tiers. Simultaneously, the presence of ads may encourage some users who prefer an ad-free experience to upgrade to one of the platform’s higher-priced subscription plans.
In its announcement, OpenAI framed this commercial step as being in service of its broader mission. The company stated that its pursuit of advertising is always in support of its goal to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.