OpenAI has begun displaying advertisements on ChatGPT for selected users in India, marking a major step in the artificial intelligence company’s push to generate more revenue from its rapidly growing consumer base. The ads are currently available to free users and subscribers on the ₹399 ($4) monthly ChatGPT Go plan, with OpenAI saying the move will help support wider access to the chatbot through free and lower-cost plans.
India is one of ChatGPT’s largest and most active markets, making the country an important testing ground for OpenAI’s advertising strategy. The company said the advertising feature is already available in 38 other countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea and 31 European countries. OpenAI also said ads will be clearly labelled, visually separated from responses and displayed below the chatbot’s answers.
OpenAI said it will not show advertisements to users who identify as under 18 or are predicted by its systems to be below that age. The company also stressed that “answer independence” remains a priority, meaning advertisements will not determine or influence the responses generated by ChatGPT. The move comes as OpenAI prepares for a potential public listing in 2027 and faces growing pressure to demonstrate how it can turn its enormous user base into sustainable revenue.
Analysts believe advertising could become an important source of income for OpenAI because ChatGPT has a particularly large individual consumer audience. Ujjwal Chaudhry, a partner at market intelligence firm Analysys Mason, said advertising is one of the most effective ways to monetize a consumer platform at scale. Unlike rival Anthropic, which has a stronger focus on enterprise customers, OpenAI has built a significant following among individual users.
OpenAI is also preparing to expand its advertising system in India, with a self-serve ads platform expected to launch on September 4. The model would allow advertisers to directly bid for ad impressions, similar to systems already used by major social media platforms. As OpenAI looks for ways to manage the high cost of running AI services and reduce losses, the success of ChatGPT ads could become an important test of whether advertising can help fund wider access to AI without undermining user trust.
source: cnbc
