OpenAI will begin testing adverts inside its ChatGPT service in the United States, marking a major shift in the monetisation strategy for one of the world’s most widely used artificial intelligence tools. The company also announced a new lower-cost subscription tier, ChatGPT Go, priced at $8 a month, designed to provide wider access while integrating advertising.
The trial will show adverts to some users on the free version of ChatGPT and on ChatGPT Go. Adverts will appear at the top of the interface after a user submits a prompt. For example, someone asking ChatGPT for travel recommendations in Mexico might see holiday-related banner-style adverts displayed. OpenAI said conversation data will not be shared with advertisers and that ads will not influence the chatbot’s responses.
OpenAI stressed that the introduction of adverts is aimed at expanding access to its tools. “We are exploring advertising so more people can benefit from our tools with fewer usage limits,” the company said. The move comes as the AI sector faces growing questions about its business model, with many companies posting significant losses despite large user bases.
According to reports, OpenAI lost roughly $8 billion (£6 billion) in the first half of 2025, with only about 5 per cent of ChatGPT’s estimated 800 million users paying for a subscription. The new ChatGPT Go plan sits below OpenAI’s existing paid plans, including ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month and ChatGPT Pro at $200 a month. Equivalent pricing for ChatGPT Go will be rolled out globally.
Experts say the decision is unsurprising given OpenAI’s financial situation. Henry Ajder, an AI and synthetic media specialist, said, “OpenAI has seen enormous growth in users, but it continues to burn investor cash and is not yet a profit-making entity. To turn that around, it needs revenue sources beyond subscriptions. For many software businesses, advertising is a proven and reliable model.”
OpenAI was originally founded as a non-profit research organisation but has gradually shifted towards commercial operations as the costs of building and maintaining large AI models have surged. Advertising has long been a foundation of the internet economy, funding platforms from search engines to social media.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has previously described ads as “a last resort,” reflecting earlier reluctance to adopt the model. Nevertheless, other AI firms are exploring similar options. Perplexity appointed a senior advertising role last year, and while Google has denied plans to introduce ads in its Gemini AI assistant in 2026, the sector is increasingly examining ad-supported models.
Analysts predict that OpenAI’s experiment will be closely watched across the technology industry. If successful, it could signal a major shift in how consumer AI products are funded and raise questions about the future of ad-free chatbots. For millions of ChatGPT users worldwide, adverts may soon become a familiar part of the AI experience.
