Saad Ullah
⬤ OpenAI just flipped the switch on a limited ad experiment for ChatGPT users in the United States. If you're logged in as an adult on the Free or Go plan, you might start seeing sponsored content pop up in your conversations. The good news? These ads are clearly marked as sponsored and kept separate from ChatGPT's actual answers—so your AI buddy isn't suddenly becoming a salesperson mid-conversation.
⬤ Here's how the targeting works: the system picks which ad to show you based on what you're currently chatting about, your previous conversations, and how you've interacted with past ads. Before you freak out about privacy, the company insists advertisers don't get access to your actual chat content, conversation history, stored memories, or personal details. They only see the boring stuff—aggregated metrics like how many people viewed or clicked their ads.
⬤ If ads aren't your thing, you've got options. You can dismiss individual ads, tweak your personalization settings, or delete ad-related data entirely. Free users facing this test can either upgrade to a paid subscription to ditch ads completely, or disable them in exchange for accepting fewer daily free messages—basically trading conversation volume for an ad-free experience.
⬤ The company frames this move as a way to keep ChatGPT free and accessible for more people without compromising the trust users place in the tool for serious or personal tasks. The experiment is still small-scale for now, affecting only a subset of U.S. Free and Go users, but it signals OpenAI's ongoing search for sustainable revenue streams beyond subscriptions alone.
Saad Ullah
