OpenAI has announced it will begin testing advertisements within its ChatGPT platform in the United States within weeks. The ads will appear for users on the free tier and the new $8-per-month ChatGPT Go subscription, positioned at the bottom of AI-generated responses. The company's Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers will remain ad-free.
The move marks a significant reversal from CEO Sam Altman's past stance, who once called ads in AI "uniquely unsettling" and a "last resort." The decision is driven by severe financial pressures. OpenAI reported operating losses of roughly $8 billion in 2025, with internal projections forecasting cumulative losses reaching $74 billion by 2028. Despite boasting 800 million weekly users, only about 5% currently pay for subscriptions, creating a massive revenue shortfall against over $1.4 trillion in committed infrastructure spending.
Compounding the financial strain is intense market competition. Data from Similarweb shows ChatGPT's share of the AI chatbot market has plummeted from 87% in January 2025 to approximately 65% by January 2026. During the same period, Google's Gemini surged from a 5% share to over 18%. OpenAI also faces a structural disadvantage in hardware costs, as it relies on expensive Nvidia GPUs, while Google uses its own, far cheaper Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).
In a related financial disclosure, OpenAI's Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar revealed the company's revenue grew tenfold from $2 billion in 2023 to over $20 billion in 2025. This growth is attributed to a "flywheel" effect powered by massive investments in compute capacity, which grew from 0.2 gigawatts in 2023 to about 1.9 gigawatts in 2025. The company stated that revenue growth is directly tied to its ability to scale compute power.
OpenAI has published five principles to guide its advertising approach, promising that ads will be beneficial, will not influence ChatGPT's answers, that conversations will remain private from advertisers, that users can turn off personalization, and that user experience will be prioritized. The initial test in the U.S. will feature basic product placements. The company also plans to expand into commerce, suggesting monetized, "native" recommendations when users seek advice on purchases or travel.
