Everything revolves around "money"! ChatGPT officially starts testing ads, drawing widespread criticism online.

OpenAI officially announced this Monday that it has started testing advertising features for select ChatGPT users in the United States, marking a decisive step toward commercial monetization. Although OpenAI emphasized that this move aims to cover costly infrastructure expenses through ad revenue in order to maintain its free service operations, the decision immediately sparked widespread controversy and strong opposition among users on social media. This test is limited to logged-in free users and the newly launched low-cost “Go” plan ($8/month), while Plus, Pro, Team, and Enterprise subscribers are unaffected. OpenAI promises that ad content will be visually distinct from the chatbot’s organic responses, and advertisers cannot access users’ specific conversations. The company seeks a balance between expanding revenue sources and maintaining user trust, but faces severe challenges regarding privacy protection and user experience. This commercialization move quickly intensified competition in the AI field. Key competitor Anthropic used the opportunity to run Super Bowl ads mocking its rival’s ad integration, implying that commercial ads will undermine the usefulness of AI assistants. In response, OpenAI CEO Altman made a rare fierce rebuttal, accusing Anthropic of being “dishonest.” Despite the public outcry, market consensus generally believes that OpenAI urgently needs a sustainable revenue model to support its ongoing $100 billion fundraising negotiations. Commercialization Path Defined According to OpenAI’s official statement, the core logic of this ad testing is “task consistency.” With hundreds of millions of users, maintaining free and Go tier services requires substantial computing power and continuous infrastructure investment. OpenAI claims that introducing an ad model will help provide high-quality AI services to a wider population and support ongoing improvements in intelligence and capabilities. In execution, OpenAI adopts a matching mechanism similar to traditional search engines. The system determines displayed content based on the user’s conversation subject, chat history, and ad interaction history. For instance, when users search for recipes, ads for food delivery or meal kits may be shown. OpenAI stresses that all ads will be clearly labeled as “sponsored content”, and advertisers cannot interfere with ChatGPT-generated answers themselves, ensuring answer independence. For users who don’t want to see ads, OpenAI offers upgrades to premium paid plans. Additionally, free users can manage ad personalization or disable ads in settings, but their daily free message quota will decrease as a trade-off. Privacy Commitment and User Control Addressing concerns about privacy risks, OpenAI detailed its data protection mechanisms in the announcement. The company clearly states that advertisers cannot access users’ chat history, memory functions, or personal details. Advertisers only receive aggregated data on ad effectiveness, such as impressions and clicks. OpenAI promises that, during testing, the system will automatically block ads for users under 18 and prohibit ads near sensitive and regulated topics such as health, mental health, or politics. Users retain certain client-side controls, including dismissing specific ads, submitting feedback, deleting ad data with one click, and managing personalized ad settings at any time. Though OpenAI claims model training and ad content are isolated—and unless users click and request ad explanations, the model itself “doesn’t know” ad content—whether this mechanism fully alleviates user concerns remains to be seen. Market Reaction and Competitive Game OpenAI’s move has triggered intense negative comments on social media. According to feedback on X (formerly Twitter), many users are disappointed by “AdsGPT.” User Nicole D pointed out that within four days OpenAI seems to be abandoning tools crucial to the neurodiverse community, questioning the company’s supposed “trust protection.” Another user, David Stark, warned this deprives ChatGPT of its only remaining advantage and may lead to user attrition. Some users bluntly stated that if ads are added, this product will no longer be a true intelligent assistant. Competitor Anthropic keenly sensed this sentiment. According to TechCrunch, Anthropic’s Super Bowl commercial showed a dull-eyed AI chatbot plagued by ad integration, mocking OpenAI’s strategy. This marketing offensive directly infuriated Altman, who publicly attacked Anthropic as an “authoritarian company.” Despite resistance from some users, there are also voices of understanding. MomentumAI stated on social media that as long as ads do not affect generated prompts, their presence is acceptable for free products. Funding Prospects and Product Iteration While launching ad tests, OpenAI is also accelerating product iteration and capital operations. Media reports say OpenAI’s recently released new programming model, GPT-5.3-Codex, has received positive market feedback, with user numbers up about 50%, and the monthly growth rate restored to over 10%. More critically, OpenAI is advancing a massive fundraising plan. Reports suggest the total amount could be as high as $100 billion, split into two parts: about $50 billion from Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon, with SoftBank and other subsequent investors expected to follow with $30 billion. Analysts note that OpenAI is eager to test ads both to ease operating cost pressures and to demonstrate the scalability of its business model to capital markets. If the “AI + Ads” commercial closed loop succeeds, it will not only provide OpenAI with self-sustaining capability, but could also spark a chain reaction across the large model industry, prompting other hesitant vendors to accelerate their commercialization processes. Risk Warning and Disclaimer The market carries risks, and investments should be made cautiously. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account individual users’ specific investment goals, financial status, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, perspectives, or conclusions in this article fit their individual circumstances. Investing based on this article is at the user’s own risk.