- ChatGPT announces ads are coming to its free tier
- An $8-a-month ChatGPT Go is also coming, but it will still have ads
- Opting out may require paying at least $20 a month
ChatGPT will soon have ads, at least on its free tier, and the news comes directly from OpenAI. The ads aren’t in the chatbot yet, but you can expect to see them “in the coming weeks.”
OpenAI finally confirmed the rumor in a detailed blog post on Friday (January 16, 2026) that outlines not only its ad plans, but also its principles for how and why they’ll display them: “Our mission is to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity.”
The AI giant simultaneously announced global availability of ChatGPT Go, a more affordable entry-level tier at $8 a month, which, unfortunatley will not be your first option for avoiding the advertising when it arrives.
Adding advertising to ChatGPT is a no-brainer for OpenAI. The company has yet to achieve profitability; its operating costs are said to be astronomical, and it has significant earning potential with a reported 800 million monthly active users.
Addressing even a fraction of those users could spell billions in revenue. Integrated advertising might also put ChatGPT on a more level playing field with its chief competitor, Google Gemini. Gemini AI Overviews are already part of Google search results, which are festooned with advertising.
What will the ads look like?
OpenAI says the ads will appear at the bottom of prompt results, as shown in the example above. So at least you can read your answer before you have to read a commercial for Squarespace.
The advertisements will be context-based, meaning they will be tied to the content of your ChatGPT conversation. Ask ChatGPT about the best laptop to buy, and you might see an ad from Dell or Lenovo at the bottom.
Will these ads be different?
OpenAI plans to let advertisers take advantage of the platform, allowing consumers ask the advertisers about the products or purchase decisions in much the same way they could interact with ChatGPT.
“AI tools level the playing field even further, allowing anyone to create high-quality experiences that help people discover options they might never have found otherwise,” writes OpenAI in the post.
All of these ads and ad experiences will be clearly labeled, according to OpenAI.
Who won’t see ads?
Anyone the system knows is under 18, or someone who tells ChatGPT they’re under that age, won’t see any advertising. OpenAI will also keep ads clear of chat topics revolving around health and politics.
Ads also won’t influence the information within your prompt answers, meaning that there should be no consideration of a response that might benefit, highlight, or criticize a possible advertiser.
Controls and opting out
OpenAI is promising not to sell customer data to third parties, and it will let you turn off personalization and clear your data, both of which might impact the relevance of ads you see in ChatGPT.
One obvious way to avoid seeing the ads is to join a paid tier that doesn’t include the new $8-a-month ChatGPT Go plan, though. While Go gives you more access to OpenAI’s latest model and enhanced image generation, you need to be on the $20-a-month ChatGPT Plus plan to avoid ads.
However, OpenAI says, “We’ll always offer a way to not see ads in ChatGPT, including a paid tier that’s ad-free,” which suggests there might be other alternatives for turning off ads, though it’s not clear right now what those might be.
Advertisement tests in the free and ChatGPT Go tiers will be starting in the US soon. No word on when they’ll spread to other users, though we’d guess that will depend on their success in the states.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yhXcPLB4Y32pbRZBaNCTo7-1920-80.jpg
Source link
lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
