OpenAI begins limited advertising trials inside ChatGPT’s free tier

OpenAI has started showing ads to some users of the free version of ChatGPT, adding a new revenue stream after projections showed it could go bankrupt over the next two years. 

According to a blog post from the AI company, the test began this week in the United States and applies to users on the no-cost tier and the lower-priced “Go” plan, which carries a monthly fee of $8.

OpenAI is seemingly adding ads as a commercial placement to its subscription revenue, but has promised that customers on higher-tier plans, including Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education, will not see ads while using ChatGPT.

“Our goal is for ads to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while maintaining the trust people place in ChatGPT for important and personal tasks. We’re starting with a test to learn, listen, and make sure we get the experience right,” the blog read.

OpenAI follows through with the January ad revenue proposal

The company first revealed its advertising proposal in January, when it announced plans to pilot advertising to expand its revenue sources. The ad test now underway is the first visible launch of that strategy, although OpenAI said the presence of advertising will not alter how ChatGPT answers prompts. 

The LLM developer added that advertising material would be clearly distinguished from chatbot output and would not be mixed into conversational replies. Moreover, advertisers would receive only aggregated performance data, such as impressions and clicks, but would not be able to access individual user conversations.

OpenAI reiterated it would limit harmful or misleading promotions as it opens the platform to advertisers by “building protections to reduce the risk of scams and other harmful or misleading ads.” The company also said it would not display ads to users under 18 years old, which it would determine through prediction systems or user-provided information.

Meanwhile, the tech company had a social altercation with rival AI developer Anthropic, which aired a commercial that appeared to criticize the use of ads in AI chat services during Super Bowl Saturday.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman responded to Anthropic, saying the spot was “clearly dishonest.” Anthropic later adjusted the advertisement’s wording to double down on its dispute over Ads in chatbots, saying: “There is a time and place for ads. Your conversations with AI should not be one of them.”

OpenAI revenue surges amid ad campaign tests

According to OpenAI’s report by chief financial officer Sarah Friar, released last month, the company’s annualized revenue run rate surpassed $20 billion in 2025. That figure represents a 233% increase from 2024 and an acceleration from the prior year, when revenue rose from $2 billion in 2023 to $6 billion in 2024.

“This is never-before-seen growth at such a scale. We firmly believe that more compute in these periods would have led to faster customer adoption and monetization,” CFO Friar.

However, OpenAI is also said to be spending more than $17 billion annually. The scale of its computing needs, training, and operating large AI models has rendered subscription income too small for its long-term sustainability.

HSBC analysts estimate that OpenAI’s cumulative free cash flow will remain negative through 2030, leaving a funding gap of $207 billion. The bank projects that cloud and AI infrastructure costs could reach $792 billion between late 2025 and 2030, with total compute commitments modeled at $1.4 trillion by 2033. 

CEO Altman outlined a plan to invest $1.4 trillion in computing over the next eight years. Going by those projections, data-center rental expenses alone could reach $620 billion. Even with a revenue forecast to exceed $213 billion by 2030, the income would not fully offset OpenAI’s projected spending. 

Some of the ways the company could narrow the gap are by increasing the proportion of paid users from 10% to 20% could add $194 billion in revenue. However, HSBC’s analysts said that even under optimistic assumptions about conversion rates and monetization, OpenAI would still need more capital beyond 2030.