OpenAI has expanded its ChatGPT advertising pilot to the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea, six months after ads first appeared in the United States.
The program, which launched as a test in February, shows sponsored listings to logged-in adult users on the free and Go tiers. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans remain ad-free, and users can opt out of ads on the free tier in exchange for fewer daily messages.
OpenAI says ads never influence ChatGPT’s answers and are always labeled and visually separated from organic responses. Advertisers receive only aggregate performance data, never conversation content, chat history, memories, or personal details. The company matches ads to the topic of a conversation, past chats, and past ad interactions, and it excludes accounts it believes are under 18 as well as sensitive areas like health and politics.
The expansion follows an encouraging review in March, when OpenAI said it saw no impact on consumer trust metrics, low dismissal rates, and improving ad relevance, and began rolling out to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The international push is part of a larger monetization strategy. OpenAI has been preparing for a potential IPO and buying back employee stock, and advertising gives the free product a funding stream as infrastructure costs climb. The pilot now spans eleven markets, with more planned before the end of the year.
