OpenAI is gearing up to make a big change to its ChatGPT platform by introducing advertisements.
On Friday (January 16), the artificial intelligence company confirmed it will begin testing advertisements inside ChatGPT, starting with a rollout in the United States before expanding globally. According to Associated Press, the ads won't be live immediately, but OpenAI said the trial is forthcoming and will apply only to users who aren't on premium plans.
OpenAI said it won't insert ads into ChatGPT's responses, but will instead have sponsored content appear "clearly labeled" beneath the chatbot's answers, showing up only when there is a relevant sponsored product or service based on the current conversation.
Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of applications, explained that the company is drawing a hard line between sponsored content and the AI's actual output.
"Most importantly: ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you," Simo wrote in a social post, adding that preserving trust is essential as advertising enters the product.
OpenAI said the first ads will appear for users on ChatGPT's free tier and users on the "Go" plan as it begins rolling out in the U.S. Meanwhile, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscribers won't see any advertisements.
The move marks a huge shift for OpenAI, which originally started as a nonprofit mission and later morphed into a public benefit corporation. OpenAI has also grown rapidly, with a reported user base of more than 800 million people, most of whom use the free version.
CEO Sam Altman spoke about the move on X, noting that many people want access to AI without paying subscription fees.
"Here are our principles. Most importantly, we will not accept money to influence the answer ChatGPT gives you, and we keep your conversations private from advertisers," Altman wrote on X.
"It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don't want to pay, so we are hopeful a business model like this can work. An example of ads I like are on Instagram, where I've found stuff I like that I otherwise never would have. We will try to make ads ever more useful to users."