OpenAI to Test Ads in ChatGPT Free and Go Tiers in U.S.

OpenAI announced plans on January 16 to begin testing advertisements in its ChatGPT service for users on the free tier and a new $8-per-month Go plan in the United States.

Credit: OpenAI

The San Francisco-based AI focused company, backed by Microsoft, stated the ads would help expand access to its AI tools by reducing usage limits for non-paying users while generating revenue to cover development costs.

Ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT responses, labeled as sponsored and tied to the conversation’s content, with users able to dismiss them or opt out of personalization.

“We’re not launching ads yet, but we do plan to start testing in the coming weeks for logged in adults in the U.S. on the free and Go tiers,” OpenAI said in a blog post.

The testing will exclude accounts identified as belonging to users under 18 and will avoid sensitive topics such as health or politics.

OpenAI expanded the ChatGPT Go tier globally on the same day, making it available in the U.S. after initial launches in 171 countries starting in August 2025.

The Go plan provides features like file uploads, memory retention and higher image creation limits compared to the free version. Higher-tier subscribers on Plus, Pro, Business or Enterprise plans will remain ad-free.

With ads coming directly in your chats, you will become able to ask further questions about those products shown in the ads to finally make a purchase decision.

OpenAI confirmed user conversations would not be shared with advertisers and ads would not affect the chatbot’s outputs.

OpenAI shared some ad-principles that will help them to monetize ChatGPT without compromising on the user experience.

The best thing is; these ads will not force you to buy a thing.

Sam Altman said in a post on X:

“ Most importantly, we will not accept money to influence the answer ChatGPT gives you, and we keep your conversations private from advertisers.”

This could be OpenAI’s last option to make ChatGPT profitable.