New Delhi: OpenAI has recently stated that it would start showing ads in ChatGPT to some US users, ramping up efforts to generate revenue from the AI chatbot to fund the high costs of developing the technology. The ads will be tested with the users on the company’s free tier and the lower-priced Go plan, which it is now expanding globally. They will show up in the coming weeks and will be separate from the answers generated by ChatGPT. Users on the more expensive Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers will not have ads.
OpenAI also stated that the advertising would not influence ChatGPT’s outputs and that users’ conversations would not be shared with the marketers. The move marks a significant departure for the company that had so far relied on subscriptions. It shows the pressure OpenAI faces to increase revenue as it spends heavily on the data centres and prepares for widely anticipated initial public offerings. The money-losing startup plans to spend more than $1 Trillion on AI infrastructure by 2030, but has not given details on how it intends to fund it.
Some of the sources stated that ads could unlock the significant revenue stream from ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly active users, but the move could irk some customers and hurt trust in the product. If ads feel clumsy or opportunistic, users can easily switch to rival chatbots such as Google’s Gemini or Anthropic’s Claude. The move could also pressure rivals to clarify their own monetisation philosophies, especially those positioning themselves as ad-free by design. The company also plans to block ads from appearing in relation to sensitive topics, such as health and politics.
