OpenAI to test ads in ChatGPT for some US users

Businessinsider reported that OpenAI announced on Friday it will start testing ads in ChatGPT for some US users on its free and Go tiers.

The article says the tests, which had been rumored, apply to the US and that mockups OpenAI shared flag clearly what is an ad. The author notes people are already used to ubiquitous advertising and that OpenAI is testing a freemium approach that lets users pay to remove ads. The piece also suggests that keeping advertisers happy could limit some harmful outputs — "you can't do bad things like generate AI nude images if you're trying to keep advertisers happy."

The article lays out concerns about annoyance, trust (whether ChatGPT will give "real" answers when ads run alongside recommendations), and advertiser pressure. It cites 2022, when advertisers fled Twitter/X after Elon Musk's takeover and the platform changed to woo them back, and argues that advertiser influence might normalize OpenAI's behavior — though the author says she reserves the right to change her mind if the rollout proves problematic.

Key Topics

Tech, Openai, Chatgpt, Advertising, Elon Musk