OpenAI will introduce advertising in the free and Go versions of ChatGPT

The company plans to introduce advertising in ChatGPT for American users of the free and Go tiers, while Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscriptions will remain ad-free. This change is part of a strategy to make artificial intelligence more accessible to a greater number of people without requiring payment.

Ads will appear at the bottom of responses when there is a sponsored product or service relevant to the current conversation. The company has established that ads will be clearly labeled and separated from organic responses. During the testing phase, ads will not be shown in accounts of users under 18 or in conversations related to sensitive or regulated topics such as health, mental health, or politics.

OpenAI has defined five principles that will guide its approach to advertising. The first establishes that the incorporation of ads must align with its mission to benefit all of humanity by making artificial intelligence more accessible. The second guarantees that ads will not influence the responses ChatGPT provides, which will continue to be optimized exclusively based on what is most useful to the user. The third principle ensures that conversations with ChatGPT will remain private from advertisers and that the company will never sell user data. The fourth grants users control over how their data is used, allowing them to disable personalization and delete data used for ads at any time. The fifth principle establishes that the company will not optimize for time spent in ChatGPT, prioritizing user trust and experience over revenue.

The company envisions that conversational interfaces will allow the development of more useful advertising experiences than traditional formats. According to its vision, users will be able to ask questions directly from an ad to make informed purchase decisions. OpenAI notes that artificial intelligence tools can especially benefit small businesses and emerging brands, allowing them to create quality experiences that help discover products that might otherwise go unnoticed.

This move represents a significant change in OpenAI's business model, which until now had focused primarily on subscriptions. The company maintains that its subscription and enterprise businesses are already strong and that it is committed to a diversified revenue model where advertising plays a role in making intelligence more accessible to everyone.

Simultaneously, OpenAI has announced the launch of ChatGPT Go in the United States, after introducing it in 171 countries since August, now expanding its availability to all markets where the platform operates. This subscription tier costs 8 dollars per month and offers features such as expanded messaging, image creation, file uploads, and memory.

Key points

• OpenAI will begin testing advertising in ChatGPT in the United States over the coming weeks for the free and Go versions
• Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscriptions will remain ad-free
• Ads will appear at the bottom of responses when there are products or services relevant to the conversation
• No ads will be shown to users under 18 or on sensitive topics such as health, mental health, or politics
• OpenAI guarantees that ads will not influence ChatGPT's responses and that conversations will remain private
• Users can disable personalization and delete data used for ads
• The company plans to develop conversational ads where users can ask questions directly