OpenAI has begun running ads in ChatGPT for adult users on the budget Go plan and for those without a paid subscription.
We’re starting to roll out a test for ads in ChatGPT today to a subset of free and Go users in the U.S.
Ads do not influence ChatGPT’s answers. Ads are labeled as sponsored and visually separate from the response.
Our goal is to give everyone access to ChatGPT for free with… pic.twitter.com/S9BV24uJLb
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 9, 2026
The test has begun in the United States. Go, an $8-a-month budget tier, launched globally in mid-January. Paid content will not be shown to Plus, Pro, Business or Enterprise users.
“Ads do not influence the chatbot’s answers. Commercial ads are labeled as sponsored and are visually separated,” OpenAI asserts.
The company noted that ensuring speed and reliability for Free and Go users requires significant infrastructure investment. Advertising will help sustain the services and broaden access to artificial intelligence.
Commercial content is tailored based on the topic of the dialogue, previous chats and how a user has interacted with sponsored posts. For example, when searching for recipes, a grocery-delivery service may appear.
Users can disable ads, but then the number of free messages per day will be reduced.
OpenAI stressed that advertisers do not have access to user chats, conversation history, saved data or personal information. They see aggregate performance indicators such as views or clicks.
“Users often turn to ChatGPT when they are exploring possible options, comparing ideas, and forming a decision. In these moments, advertising becomes a way to introduce people to products and services they might like,” the announcement says.
The company plans to improve the relevance of commercial ads.
OpenAI back in the saddle
A few days before the ad rollout, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said to employees and investors that ChatGPT “again exceeded 10% monthly growth.” The company is preparing to launch an updated version of the chatbot, he added.
The coding tool Codex recorded a 50% week-on-week rise. It competes with Anthropic’s Claude Code, which became extremely popular during 2025.
In February, OpenAI unveiled a new version of its programming model, GPT-5.3 Codex, shortly after Anthropic released its flagship model — Claude Opus 4.6.
“It was a great week,” Altman said.
Competition heats up
In its first Super Bowl ad, Anthropic mocked OpenAI. In a series of spots it drew attention to the integration of advertising into the ChatGPT chatbot:
- in one video, a simple question about fitness turned into an unsolicited ad for shoe insoles mid-reply;
- in another, a user asked how best to talk to his mother, and an ad for a dating service for older adults appeared.
Altman noted that the spots were “misleading” and that OpenAI “obviously would never place ads the way Anthropic portrays.”
At the end of 2025, ChatGPT’s rise in popularity began to slow amid the success of competitors such as Google and Anthropic.
OpenAI grew concerned, as evidenced by a “red code” memorandum.
In January, prominent investor George Noble said that he has been observing corporate collapses for decades, and OpenAI shows all the signs of an impending crash.