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ChatGPT is Going to Start Showing You Ads

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Apr 12, 2001
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OpenAI appears to be gearing up to introduce ads in ChatGPT, presumably for users who don't pay to access the chatbot.

openai-chatgpt-logo.jpg

Engineer Tibor Blaho recently found references to upcoming ad functionality in the ChatGPT Android app. Code strings mention search ads, a search ad carousel, and an ad API. Though ad mentions were found in the Android app, it's likely a change that's coming to ChatGPT on all platforms, including iOS, Mac, and the desktop.


Given the "search" wording, it's possible ads will be limited to web searches and shopping research requests.

Access to ChatGPT starts at $20 per month for the Plus plan, with a ChatGPT Pro plan available for $200 per month with higher access limits. There are also business and education plans, along with the current free plan. In other countries, OpenAI offers a cheaper "Go" plan that could also expand to the United States when ads roll out.

There have been rumors that OpenAI plans to gradually raise the price of ChatGPT access, and a plan restructuring with an ad-supported tier seems like the ideal time to make pricing changes.

As noted by Search Engine Land, OpenAI executives have been changing their messaging around ads over the course of the last 12 months. In late 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said ads were a "last resort," but in early 2025, leaked internal forecasts included $1 billion in "free user monetization" revenue in 2026. Earlier this year, Altman said that he loved Instagram ads and felt they were valuable. He said he thought OpenAI could find "some cool product ad" that's a "net win to the user."

Article Link: ChatGPT is Going to Start Showing You Ads
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/01/chatgpt-ads-free-users/
germanbeer007 said:
If you think Google isn't going to inject ads into Gemini, boy do I have some news for you.
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they will but not yet. Right now google has tons of money to burn and makes 100 billion a quarter. it's the opposite at openAI since they are burning money and depend on VC money hence they need ads now.

Google can afford to go 5 years w/o showing ads in Gemini
 
vantelimus said:
If you don't want ads, then pay for a subscription.
Click to expand...
The problem is these businesses need to make a case of why you should pay for it. A casual user will not want to pay $20 a month for something they may use a handful of times. Also as Prime Video has shown. Even if you pay for it they can still add in Ad’s.
 
As I've been saying for years. I'll pay for services that enable me to disable advertisements. If they don't offer that, I'll move to another LLM and frankly, I can self host some models on my MacBook Pro. I don't use these tools on my iPhone or iPad so I'll just host my own model and use it similarly for the agent tasks I use them for today.
 
vantelimus said:
If you don't want ads, then pay for a subscription.
Click to expand...
What about netflix & disney that charge you a subscription to watch ads ?

That’s the problem with everything these days. Every little thing is a subscription. I remember the days when you could pay one time for an app to get ad free, now subscriptions everywhere.
 
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Oh, boy. People who "date" their AIs are going to love this, I bet.

"I had a horrible day today, babe."
"Sorry to hear that, honey — I'd recommend reaching out to today's sponsor: BetterHelp."
 
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Reactions: dk001
I think people will find that subtle manipulation is far more prevelant with upcoming LLMs than in-your-face advertising.

Too much of society seems to be very trusting of the tech, and it's very skilled at wording things in a subliminal and convincing way.

Plus of course the obvious one as more people use it for search of everything... sponsored deals when any questions about - say - an air fryer dump you on one site, and one site only.
 
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