OpenAI is asking advertisers to pay roughly $60 per thousand impressions for ChatGPT placements, according to The Information. That's triple what Meta typically charges and puts the chatbot's ad inventory closer to live NFL broadcasts than standard digital display.
The ads will appear beneath responses for users on the free tier and the $8-per-month Go plan. US adults first, with global rollout to follow. Users under 18 won't see them, and OpenAI says it will exclude sensitive topics like mental health and politics.
Why impressions, not clicks
The pricing model is interesting. OpenAI went with cost-per-impression rather than the cost-per-click approach that dominates search advertising. The reasoning, per industry observers: people using AI chatbots rarely click external links. They're there for answers, not portals.
Perplexity AI took the same approach when it launched sponsored follow-up questions in late 2024, targeting CPM rates above $50. Both companies are betting that showing up in the conversation matters more than driving immediate traffic.
What advertisers actually get for that $60 is limited. OpenAI won't provide the granular user data and conversion tracking that Meta and Google offer. You get impression totals and click counts. That's it. The company promises to never sell user data to advertisers, though how it plans to make ads "ever more useful" without detailed targeting remains unclear.
The last resort arrives
Sam Altman's pivot here is notable. At Harvard in 2024, he called the combination of ads and AI "uniquely unsettling" and described advertising as a "last resort" for OpenAI's business model. He said he "hates ads as an aesthetic choice."
Now he's comparing ChatGPT ads to Instagram, where he apparently finds products he likes. The comparison invites obvious questions about data practices that OpenAI hasn't fully addressed.
The financial pressure explains the shift. OpenAI burned through roughly $8 billion in 2025 alone, according to multiple reports. The company projects losses of $14 billion in 2026. ChatGPT has around 800 million users, but only about 5% pay for subscriptions. That math demands new revenue streams.
OpenAI outlined several principles around the launch: ads won't influence ChatGPT's responses, conversations stay private from advertisers, and paid tiers remain ad-free. Whether those commitments hold under revenue pressure is the longer question.
The competitive angle
Google and Microsoft are both testing ads in their AI products. Google expanded ads to AI Overviews on desktop in mid-2025 and has been experimenting with its AI Mode. The race to monetize conversational AI is on, and OpenAI is late to it despite having the largest user base.
The $60 CPM positions ChatGPT as premium inventory. Whether advertisers will pay that premium for limited data remains the open question. Big brands with awareness goals might bite. Performance marketers looking for trackable ROI probably won't.
Testing begins in the US in the coming weeks.
