OpenAI is reportedly testing ads within the free version of ChatGPT, a significant shift from its ad-free model. This move aims to create a new revenue stream, potentially integrating commerce directly into the AI chatbot. Code references in the Android app suggest ads may appear soon, impacting the web economy by leveraging user data for personalized promotions.

ChatGPT’s free version may soon start showing ads to its users. A report claims that OpenAI has internally started testing ads for the free version of ChatGPT. This shift will mark an end to the completely ad-free experience that the AI startup offers to its users. This is an attempt by OpenAI to make a new revenue stream, much similar to the one fueling Google Search, where ads and promotions of various products influence user purchasing behavior. While the premium plans exist, this move has been about monetising the large free user base and could redefine the economics of the web by integrating commerce directly into the generative AI chatbot.Engineer Tibor Blaho took to the microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, to point out that a beta version of ChatGPT’s Android app, version 1.2025.329, contains new code references to an “ads feature,” including mentions of “bazaar content,” “search ad,” and a “search ads carousel.”Sharing a screenshot of his findings, Blaho wrote: “ChatGPT Android app 1.2025.329 beta includes new references to an ‘ads feature’ with ‘bazaar content’, ‘search ad’ and ‘search ads carousel’”

This suggests that the free version of ChatGPT on Android may start showing ads soon, and once they appear, they will likely show up on the chatbot’s iPhone app as well. But iPhone users can still ask individual questions through Siri, which almost certainly won’t show ads.If Siri can’t answer something, it will switch to ChatGPT. Under Apple’s deal with OpenAI, these Siri-powered ChatGPT answers aren’t used for training the AI, and it’s very likely that ads won’t be shown in these sessions either.

How this move can help ChatGPT maker OpenAI

This shift could affect the web economy because many people don’t realise that ChatGPT may now understand users better than Google. It could use that information to show personalised ads inside ChatGPT, suggesting products you may want. It is also expected to place ads in search results, similar to Google Search. The leak indicates that ads may appear only in the search area at first, however, this may change over time.ChatGPT is already huge, with about 800 million users per week. That number was only 100 million a week in November 2023 and had risen to about 300 million a week by late 2024.Currently, ChatGPT processes about 2.5 billion prompts a day and India has become the largest user base for it, far outnumbering that of the US.

What OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said earlier about ads in ChatGPT

According to Engadget, Altman spoke at a Harvard Business School event last year and said he would try his best to avoid adding ads to AI chats, though he didn’t completely rule out the idea.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that combining ads and AI is “uniquely unsettling to me” and that it’s a “last resort for us as a business model,” but that he’s “not totally against them.” However, the codes discovered recently now suggest that ads may be coming soon.