OpenAI has announced that it will introduce advertising to its ChatGPT Go and free tiers, marking a significant shift in its service offerings. This decision comes as the company expands ChatGPT Go's availability to the US for a subscription fee of $8/month. Testing for these ads will commence in the coming weeks, although specific dates have not been provided.
Unlike other tiers such as ChatGPT Plus and Pro, which will remain free of ads, the new advertising initiative aims to enhance accessibility to intelligence services. Ads will be displayed at the end of responses when relevant to the conversation, and users will have the option to learn more about the ads or dismiss them. Notably, OpenAI has committed to not sharing chat data with advertisers and allows users to disable personalization.
Additionally, while these changes are underway, the company will ensure that ads do not appear in accounts of users under 18 and will avoid sensitive topics. ChatGPT Go now provides users with a choice among three paid plans, offering ten times more messages and enhanced features compared to the free version. The introduction of ads may challenge Google’s Gemini, which has yet to implement similar features.