Privacy and Online Advertising

OpenAI has started testing advertisements in the free and $8‑per‑month 'Go' tiers of ChatGPT for U.S. users, marking the first time its mainstream chatbot will routinely display paid promotions. The company says Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education subscribers will not see ads, and that ad content will be clearly labeled and will not alter how the model responds to user prompts. Ads will be targeted using users’ current prompts, past chats and prior ad interactions, but OpenAI says advertisers will not receive access to chat histories or personal details. Free‑tier users can avoid ads only by either upgrading to a paid plan or opting out and accepting limits on how much they can use the service. The move is part of OpenAI’s broader effort to monetize ChatGPT beyond subscriptions and is likely to intensify debate in the U.S. over privacy, data use and whether core AI tools are becoming pay‑to‑play for ad‑free access.