ChatGPT may start showing ads
The days of using ChatGPT without being bothered by ads might be over. Hints of the potential arrival of ads have been found in the AI app’s code.
AIPRM engineer Tibor Blaho discovered something remarkable last weekend: the beta version of the ChatGPT Android app contains references to advertising. References to “ads feature” can be found with “bazaar content,” “search ad,” and “search ads carousel.”
While this doesn’t confirm that ads will actually be coming to the artificial intelligence platform, such code is often included in a beta version of a program for a reason. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, may already be experimenting with ads internally or rolling them out to users sometime in the future.
In fact, some users claim to have already seen ads in ChatGPT. For example, on X this week, a report was made about an ad for a fitness class, despite having a paid Pro subscription.
ChatGPT Android app 1.2025.329 beta includes new references to an “ads feature” with “bazaar content”, “search ad” and “search ads carousel” pic.twitter.com/BdHOJIQHmA
— Tibor Blaho (@btibor91) November 29, 2025
No big surprise
The arrival of ads on ChatGPT wouldn’t be a huge surprise. Currently, OpenAI is still monetizing ChatGPT by offering subscriptions to the Pro version of the AI tool. However, this isn’t enough for the company to turn a profit from its chatbot: that’s estimated to happen only in 2030.
According to The Information, OpenAI has even declared a “code red” within the company. Various projects have reportedly been postponed to improve ChatGPT and stay ahead of competitors like Gemini. Like many other tech companies, the company is fully committed to artificial intelligence, and it’s a race to the top.
Details are unclear.
It’s also unclear how ads could appear in ChatGPT. A logical option would be to occasionally display an ad during ChatGPT conversations.
But will these ads be openly identified as ads to avoid confusion, or will they be very subtly incorporated into the conversation? And will Pro subscribers also see ads, or will it only be intended for people who use ChatGPT for free? Time will tell.
Wait and see.
At the time of writing, nothing has been officially confirmed. However, OpenAI’s CEO has previously indicated that he isn’t necessarily opposed to the addition of ads in ChatGPT. This—combined with the fact that ChatGPT isn’t yet profitable for the company and the leaked code from the Android app beta—could be a clear harbinger of the AI tool’s future.