OpenAI Flips the Switch: ChatGPT Enters the Ad-Supported Era With First Live U.S. Test

February 10, 2026
OpenAI
4 min

News Summary

OpenAI officially began testing advertisements inside ChatGPT on Monday, February 9, 2026 (Eastern Time), marking the company's most significant commercialization move since the chatbot's launch. The ads are rolling out to logged-in adult users on the Free and Go subscription tiers in the United States, while Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans remain entirely ad-free.

The Announcement

On the afternoon of February 9, 2026 (EST), OpenAI published a blog post confirming the start of its first live advertising test inside ChatGPT. The move follows OpenAI's January 16, 2026 disclosure, in which the company outlined its advertising principles and simultaneously launched ChatGPT Go — an $8/month subscription tier — in the U.S. and globally.

CEO Sam Altman acknowledged on X in January that "a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don't want to pay," expressing optimism that an ad-supported model could sustain free access for hundreds of millions of users.

How the Ads Work

Sponsored content appears in a clearly labeled section below ChatGPT's responses — not embedded within the AI-generated answers themselves. OpenAI emphasized several key design principles:

  • Answer Independence: Ads do not influence ChatGPT's responses in any way. The AI's answers remain optimized purely for user helpfulness.
  • Visual Separation: Every ad is labeled as "Sponsored" and visually distinct from the organic response.
  • Contextual Targeting: During the test, OpenAI matches ads to users based on conversation topics, past chat history, and prior ad interactions. For instance, a user researching recipes might see an ad for a meal-kit delivery service.
  • Advertiser Restrictions: Advertisers receive only aggregated metrics (views, clicks) and have no access to individual conversations, chat histories, memories, names, emails, or IP addresses.

Who Sees Ads — and Who Doesn't

The test applies exclusively to U.S.-based, logged-in adult users on:

  • Free tier — ChatGPT's no-cost plan
  • Go tier — The new $8/month subscription launched globally in January 2026

Users on the following plans will not see ads:

  • Plus ($20/month)
  • Pro ($200/month)
  • Business, Enterprise, and Education plans

Additionally, users under 18 will not be shown ads, and ads will not appear near sensitive or regulated topics including health, mental health, and politics.

User Controls and Privacy Safeguards

OpenAI has built in several user-facing controls:

  • Dismiss ads and provide feedback on why
  • View ad explanations — learn why a specific ad was shown
  • Toggle ad personalization on or off in Settings > Ad Controls
  • Delete ad data with a single tap; data is purged from servers within 30 days
  • Opt out entirely — Free users can choose a "no-ads" option, though with reduced daily message limits and no access to tools like image generation

The company stated that if personalization is enabled, ads may leverage the user's full chat thread, memories, and interaction history. If disabled, ads will only be matched based on the current conversation's topic.

The Business Case

Running frontier AI models at scale is extraordinarily expensive. ChatGPT now serves approximately 800 million weekly active users, but only an estimated 35 million are paying subscribers. OpenAI's internal forecasts reportedly target $1 billion in "free user monetization" revenue starting in 2026, scaling to as much as $25 billion by 2029.

The company inked over $1.4 trillion in infrastructure deals in 2025, and Altman said the startup was on track for $20 billion in annualized revenue by late 2025. Advertising provides a critical new revenue lever to fund the massive compute costs required to serve hundreds of millions of free users.

Industry Reactions and Competitive Landscape

The launch has drawn immediate attention from competitors:

  • Anthropic ran a Super Bowl ad on Sunday evening (February 9, 2026) directly referencing OpenAI's ad plans. The spot asserted that while "ads are coming to AI," Anthropic's Claude chatbot would remain ad-free. In a blog post, Anthropic wrote that "including ads in conversations with Claude would be incompatible" with its positioning as a tool for deep thinking and serious work.
  • Google has reportedly discussed bringing ads to its Gemini AI platform in 2026, though Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said in late January there were "no plans" for Gemini-specific ads. Google already features ads in AI Overviews alongside Search results.

What Comes Next

OpenAI described this as a deliberate, phased test. The company plans to expand gradually based on real-world feedback and performance data. Businesses interested in advertising on ChatGPT can express interest at chatgpt.com/advertisers.

The broader question remains: can OpenAI monetize conversational AI through advertising without eroding the user trust that made ChatGPT the fastest-growing consumer application in history? The coming months of testing will provide the first real answers.