OpenAI Launches Ads in ChatGPT: What Users Actually See and How It Works

OpenAI has officially begun testing advertisements within ChatGPT, signaling a pivotal step toward monetizing its widely used AI assistant. According to OpenAI’s official announcement on its corporate blog, the ads are designed to appear only to free-tier users and are intended to be "contextually relevant"—displayed alongside responses without disrupting the conversational flow. The rollout, which began in early February 2026, is being phased gradually across regions and user segments, with no immediate plans to extend ads to ChatGPT Plus subscribers.

However, the implementation has already encountered unexpected challenges. In a revealing report from AdExchanger, marketing professionals reported being unable to locate their own ad campaigns within ChatGPT despite confirming proper setup through OpenAI’s advertising portal. When one advertiser asked ChatGPT directly, "Where are my ads?" the AI responded with a list of unrelated businesses, prompting OpenAI to acknowledge an internal misalignment between ad targeting systems and the model’s response engine. "We’re still refining how the ad delivery system integrates with the language model," an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed. "The model sometimes generates responses that don’t reflect the actual ads being served."

This discrepancy raises critical questions about transparency and user trust. Unlike traditional display ads or sponsored search results, ChatGPT’s ads are not visually distinct—they appear as part of the AI-generated text. This blurs the line between organic content and paid promotion, potentially violating advertising standards in jurisdictions like the EU and U.S., where disclosure of commercial intent is legally mandated. Consumer advocacy groups have begun urging regulators to review OpenAI’s approach, citing risks of deceptive practices.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has not disclosed the identity of its advertising partners or the data points used to target users. While Google Ads and other platforms rely on explicit user behavior and demographic data, OpenAI’s model appears to infer intent based on conversational context—such as queries about travel, tech gadgets, or financial services. This raises privacy concerns, particularly since users may not realize their prompts are being analyzed for ad suitability. Unlike Google Ads, which offers detailed campaign dashboards, OpenAI’s advertising interface remains opaque to marketers, as noted in the AdExchanger piece.

Despite these issues, early internal metrics suggest high engagement rates. According to OpenAI’s internal data, users who see ads in ChatGPT are 27% more likely to engage with the platform for follow-up queries, suggesting the ads may serve as conversation starters rather than interruptions. The company also reports a 15% increase in free-to-paid conversions among users who interact with ads, hinting at a strategic crossover between monetization and user retention.

For marketers, the new frontier presents both opportunity and uncertainty. While ChatGPT offers access to a massive, highly engaged audience, the lack of transparency in targeting and the risk of misattribution—where the AI falsely claims to display an ad that isn’t there—pose significant hurdles. Industry analysts suggest that OpenAI may need to develop a dedicated ad verification layer or even a public-facing ad registry to restore credibility.

As the experiment continues, OpenAI remains tight-lipped about future expansion. The company has not indicated whether ads will eventually appear in voice mode, mobile apps, or enterprise versions. For now, the rollout remains a controlled test, but the implications are far-reaching: ChatGPT is no longer just a tool for information—it’s becoming a new media channel, where the line between assistant and advertiser is increasingly indistinct.