OpenAI Tests Sponsored AI Agents in ChatGPT Ads

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT beyond subscriptions by introducing advertising in India, a vast and price-sensitive market for digital services. Ads will appear on the Free and lower-cost Go tiers, giving the company another way to offset the heavy computing costs of generative AI. The move could also reshape how brands reach consumers through conversational products, while testing whether advertising can coexist with user trust and the quality of ChatGPT’s responses.

OpenAI said it will begin showing ads to ChatGPT Free and Go users in India and is working with agencies including WPP and Omnicom. The country has surpassed 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, providing substantial scale for the company’s initial advertising push. OpenAI also plans to launch an ad-management platform in September 2026, enabling advertisers to create and manage campaigns as the company accelerates efforts to monetize its rapidly growing audience.

OpenAI is using advertising to broaden ChatGPT's revenue base, targeting free users who account for about 94% of its user base and extending ads to the lower-priced Go plan. The move turns conversations into a channel for product recommendations and brand exposure, while bringing generative AI further into a digital advertising market dominated by Google and Meta.

OpenAI launched its first ChatGPT advertising tests in the United States in 2026, using a cost-per-click (CPC) model for Free and Go users. Other paid plans remain ad-free. Target will place ads through its retail media business, Roundel, with Adobe and other brands also joining the initial test. Neither first-wave budgets nor per-click rates have been disclosed.