Are there ads in ChatGPT?
Yes. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in the US on 9 February 2026 for logged-in adults on the Free and Go tiers, after announcing the plan in January. The ads are labelled "Sponsored" and appear below answers, separate from the response. OpenAI says ads do not influence answers and that it does not sell conversation data to advertisers.
Paid ChatGPT tiers such as Plus and Pro were not included in the initial test, according to OpenAI. Trade press has since reported that OpenAI opened a self-serve ads manager to US advertisers in May 2026 and expanded ads to several other countries during 2026; formats, pricing and availability are still changing.
Ads in AI assistants and AI search are spreading more broadly: Google shows ads in and around AI Overviews and AI Mode, Microsoft places ads in Copilot, and Perplexity has tested sponsored follow-up questions. For marketers, this creates a new channel where relevance and trust matter, and new questions about measurement and invalid traffic from AI agents.