OpenAI announced its plans to show ads to ChatGPT users, with tests starting for US users on the Free tier and the newly introduced Go plan in the coming weeks. The company said(новое окно) that:
- Ads won’t influence ChatGPT’s responses.
- Ads will be clearly labeled and visually separate.
- Conversations and personal data will not be shared with advertisers.
- Ads won’t be shown to users under 18, based on user disclosure or OpenAI’s own predictions.
- Ads won’t appear near sensitive or regulated topics such as health, mental health, or politics.
- The Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers will remain ad-free.
An early example on mobile shows ads inserted beneath responses.
X users(новое окно) were quick to point out how the ad overlay takes up meaningful space on small screens, which makes the experience worse overall.
While OpenAI claims ads will be “different” in ChatGPT, it has yet to explain what that actually means or how advertising can generate revenue without driving users away. To understand what’s at stake, let’s look at how ChatGPT arrived at this point, why ads are more intrusive in an AI assistant than in search, and what users can do about it. In this article, we will unpack:
- How ChatGPT’s relationship with ads evolved
- How ChatGPT is using Big Tech’s monetization model
- Why ChatGPT advertising is worse than search engine ads
- How to protect your privacy when using ChatGPT
- How to delete your ChatGPT account
- How to switch to a private AI assistant that never shows ads
How ChatGPT’s relationship with ads evolved
Despite relying on user data for AI training, OpenAI often says that privacy and ChatGPT go hand in hand thanks to controls that let you tighten privacy settings, but its position on advertising has changed in a relatively short time.
CEO Sam Altman described(новое окно) the idea of combining AI and advertising as “uniquely unsettling” in May 2024, calling ads a “last resort” business model for ChatGPT. However, he did not rule out ads for ChatGPT, saying that the traditional advertising approach was problematic and would need to be reworked for an AI product.
In April 2025, the company introduced personalized product recommendations inside ChatGPT search, its embedded web search tool, for all users.
Later in November, an engineer uncovered(новое окно) advertising-related code in a ChatGPT Android beta app, suggesting that ad infrastructure was being tested behind the scenes. This was publicly dismissed(новое окно) by Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, who claimed that there were “no live tests for ads” and that any images circulating about this were “either not real or not ads.”
About a month after Turley’s statement, OpenAI officially announced that ChatGPT would start testing advertising while simultaneously introducing a new low-cost tier: ChatGPT Go is currently the only paid plan with ads. Skeptics could argue that by placing ads in a newly created paid tier, OpenAI is able to reassure existing subscribers that their experience remains unchanged while setting a precedent that advertising can coexist with a paid ChatGPT offering if the company later chooses to expand it.
ChatGPT is using Big Tech’s monetization model
ChatGPT’s parent company has committed(новое окно) to spending around $1.4 trillion in data center infrastructure through the early 2030s, while OpenAI revenue currently stands at about $20 billion annually. Although the company expects growth from enterprise products, devices, and other future businesses, subscriptions alone haven’t scaled fast enough, as only about 5% of its roughly 800 million users pay.
That helps explain the company’s move toward ads as a way to monetize ChatGPT free users and those on the cheapest paid plan (so far), even if it comes at the cost of public trust.
It seems to follow a familiar Big Tech playbook, often described as enshittification, a term coined by Cory Doctorow:
- Launch something genuinely useful that people quickly learn to trust.
- Scale fast by building a massive base of engaged users and collect the behavioral data that comes with it.
- Let the product become part of daily habits at work, school, and home.
- Introduce ads gradually to make the product more attractive to advertisers and partners while degrading the user experience. Controls, opt-outs, and clear explanations become harder to find, as defaults increasingly favor the platform’s revenue goals.
- Present ads as a natural evolution of the product, while reassuring users that their experience and privacy remain unchanged.
OpenAI is hardly the first company to go down this path:
- When Google began in the late 1990s, it offered its search engine without advertising before switching to an ad-based business model.
- Now, Google shows ads in AI Overview and AI Mode, while adding Gemini across Gmail, Android, and everywhere else, including Apple’s ecosystem(новое окно).
- Meta uses AI conversations and interactions to power personalized ads across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and the rest of its ecosystem.
- Microsoft Copilot surfaces ads in chats for shopping and other commercial queries.
- Perplexity displays sponsored follow-up questions alongside answers.
Why ChatGPT advertising is worse than search engine ads
A search engine usually requires clear buying intent before ads appear. For example, searching “why do my feet hurt” returns informational content, while “best shoes for flat feet” brings up ads. When using an AI assistant designed to keep the conversation going, that initial question can gradually move from explanations to suggestions and solutions. Ads can slip into the process of defining what the “right” solution looks like, which makes the assistant’s guidance feel promotional rather than helpful — but is actually transactional in nature.
OpenAI has said that ads won’t affect answers, but it’s still unclear how ads will be selected and measured for success. That ambiguity should be addressed, as it matters especially for people who turn to AI assistants(новое окно) when they’re unsure, stressed, or emotionally vulnerable — moments when trust is high, defenses are low, and selling through ads is easiest.
Plus, the private and personalized nature of these interactions makes it harder for users, researchers, and regulators to see patterns or hold systems accountable.
How to protect your privacy when using ChatGPT
OpenAI’s current plans exclude introducing advertising in ChatGPT Plus, Business, or Enterprise, so upgrading is one way to avoid ads for now. But there’s no guarantee this won’t change in the future.
Here are other steps you can take immediately to minimize how ads affect your experience:
Use ChatGPT without logging in: Ads are not shown in logged-out sessions during the testing phase. This means you can use ChatGPT for free without ads by not signing in, which also limits how much activity can be linked back to your personal account.
Be mindful of what you share: Avoid entering sensitive information such as personal identifiers, financial details, health data, or anything you wouldn’t want stored or analyzed. It’s safer to treat ChatGPT like a public-facing tool.
Check for ad opt-out controls: Details about how ad personalization opt-outs will work have not yet been disclosed. But if you do start seeing ads in ChatGPT, check for any opt-out controls that allow you to turn off or limit how your data is used for targeting, and clear ad-related data.
How to delete your ChatGPT account
If you don’t feel comfortable using ChatGPT anymore, here’s how to delete your account using the mobile app:
1. Go to Settings → Data controls.
- Select Delete OpenAI account.
- Tap Delete OpenAI account to confirm.
Here’s how to delete your ChatGPT account through the browser app:
Go to Settings → Account and click Delete.
Enter your account email, type DELETE, and click Permanently delete my account.
Switch to a private AI assistant that never shows ads
If you’re worried about how your data could be used by AI assistants like ChatGPT for ad targeting, consider using Lumo, our private AI assistant(новое окно). Lumo is open source and exclusively supported by our community of paying subscribers. It never logs your activity, shares it with anyone, or uses it for ads.
Our ad-free business model fully aligns with our privacy-first philosophy, and breaking that model would undermine the core of our entire business. Unlike ad-driven platforms, Proton is not owned by investors or venture capital firms, which means we don’t have any external pressure to monetize user data or engagement. We’re primarily owned by a nonprofit foundation whose role is to ensure Proton always upholds its mission: building an open and free internet where privacy is the default, not something users have to opt into.
