ChatGPT ads are coming, OpenAI leak suggests

Tech

CEO Sam Altman once described ads as a ‘last resort’

Anthony CuthbertsonMonday 01 December 2025 11:55 GMTComments

OpenAI will introduce ads to ChatGPT, three years after the launch of the AI chatbot (iStock)

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OpenAI is planning to introduce ads to ChatGPT for the first time, according to newly discovered code within the AI chatbot’s app.

First spotted by computer engineer Tibor Blaho, the code suggests that OpenAI is testing ads and shopping features within a beta version of the ChatGPT Android app.

“ChatGPT Android app 1.2025.329 beta includes new references to an ‘ads feature’ with ‘bazaar content’, ‘search ad’ and ‘search ads carousel’,” Mr Blaho noted in a post to X.

ChatGPT has been completely free of ads since it launched in November 2022, with chief executive Sam Altman once describing them as a “last resort”.

The tech boss appears to have softened his stance in recent months, saying that he was open to the idea of introducing them.

“I’m not totally against it,” he said on his company’s podcast in June. “I can point to areas where I like ads. I think ads on Instagram [are] kind of cool.”

The amount of personalised data gathered by OpenAI through users’ conversations with its chatbots could make the adverts highly targeted – and also highly profitable.

OpenAI is yet to make a profit from its technology, despite expecting to generate $13 billion in sales in 2025 from premium tiers of ChatGPT.

The revenue is offset by around $22 billion in spending, mostly from massive investment in computer chips, data centres and other digital infrastructure needed to train an host its AI.

Recent analysis from the banking giant HSBC suggests that OpenAI will still not be profitable by 2030

Deals to rent cloud compute from Microsoft and Amazon – adding up to nearly $300bn – will not be enough to support OpenAI’s growth plans, according to the forecasts by HSBC Global Investment Research, with a further $207bn needed to meet its AI data centre spending.

While subscriptions to its premium ChatGPT tiers are expected to grow significantly by the end of the decade, new revenue streams from advertising will be needed to help meet this deficit.

The Independent has reached out to OpenAI for further information about its advertising plans.