An example of what ads might look like in ChatGPT (OpenAI)

OpenAI set to start rolling out ads to free and ChatGPT Go users

OpenAI says user conversations will be kept private from advertisers, and answers will not be influenced by ads.

1/16/26 1:58PM

It was bound to happen at some point. OpenAI has finally disclosed the details of how it plans to roll out ads for users of ChatGPT.

The company announced today in a blog post that in the coming weeks, ads will start rolling out to users of the $8-per-month ChatGPT Go product and the free tier of the chatbot. OpenAI listed some guiding principles that will steer its approach to ads:

ChatGPT will not offer answers that are influenced by ads, but will always optimize answers based on “what’s most helpful to you,” and the ads will be clearly labeled and separate from the chat.
ChatGPT conversations will be kept private and not shared with advertisers, and OpenAI says it will “never sell your data to advertisers.”
ChatGPT users can turn off personalization (which is used for ad targeting) and can clear this data at any time. The company also pledged to always offer a paid ad-free tier of the product.

OpenAI also said that the company does not “optimize for time spent in ChatGPT,” something that other social media apps like TikTok and Meta’s Instagram do.

Ads will not be shown to minors, and chats with sensitive topics like health, mental health, or politics will not display ads, according to the blog post. Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscriptions will not show ads.

OAI Ad Blog Inline-AdMock1 16x9 — An example of how a sponsored ad might appear in ChatGPT (OpenAI)

OpenAI has a lot riding on rolling out a responsible approach to ads, as it seeks to shore up its revenues to keep up with its ambitious growth. Turning ads on for its hundreds of millions of free users would certainly generate some serious additional revenue, which it needs to fulfill its $1 trillion worth of deals.

But we know that users share some pretty sensitive, personal information in their chats, and the company needs to establish trust with its users. Pressure to monetize chats at the expense of user trust could send users to competing chat platforms.

Rani Molla15h

Anthropic has surged past OpenAI in capturing business spending on generative-AI software

Last quarter, Anthropic attracted the lion’s share of trackable business spending on generative-AI software, according to new data from Ramp, a fintech company that provides corporate cards and expense management software for small firms and Fortune 500 companies alike.

The data showed that in the first quarter, Anthropic saw 37% of spending, its biggest share yet, versus 33% for OpenAI. Notably, the dataset doesn’t capture spending by Google or Microsoft.

OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, still leads in overall adoption at 81% of AI buyers, but Anthropic is catching up, at nearly 63% in March. Overall, more than half of Ramp’s customers currently pay for AI, up from just 18% two years ago.

Anthropic’s enterprise tools, including Claude Code and Cowork, have been making waves among the business class, sending its revenue soaring.

Anthropic’s revenue share is even higher among companies spending on AI for the first time.

“Anthropic has definitely been on a tear,” Ara Kharazian, Ramp’s economist, told Sherwood News. “Its increase in adoption rates has been driven by its ability to sell to less technical users and smaller contracts than it typically has.”

It’s notable that midway through the first quarter, Anthropic had a falling-out with one of its biggest customers, the US government, which near the end of February decided to shun Anthropic’s products and lean into working with OpenAI.

Jon Keegan

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Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.7, with better coding, better vision, and occasional doom loops

The incremental update of Anthropic’s most capable public model includes steady improvements to coding and new ways to blow past your token budget.

Tunnel. Optical illusion. Abstract striped background. Vector illustration.

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Report: Google ditches its objection to defense work, pitches Gemini to Pentagon

In 2018, Google employees protested against the company’s tech being used for the US military’s Project Maven — a drone targeting program — reminding the company of its “don’t be evil” motto.

After the controversy, the company declined to renew the contract with the Pentagon, drawing a bright line between Big Tech and the national security establishment.

What a difference a few years makes.

Google is now actively working to get its Gemini AI model to be used in classified national security settings, according to a new report from The Information. Seeking a similar deal to the one OpenAI hashed out with the Pentagon, Google reportedly wants a contract that allows use of Gemini in classified work, but with a prohibition on mass domestic surveillance and autonomous lethal weapons.

But Google is playing catch-up in a major way. Amazon and Microsoft both have been widely used for classified defense work, and contractors are already experienced in working with their cloud systems, while Google’s services have never been used in classified work.

Google and Pentagon Discuss Classified AI Deal as Company Rebuilds Military Ties

What a difference a few years makes.

1 in 5

Rani Molla19h

We knew Tesla had been off-loading its struggling “apocalypse-proof” Cybertrucks onto CEO Elon Musk’s other companies, but now we know just how many.

The EV company sold about one in five Cybertrucks registered in the US in the fourth quarter to Musk’s other ventures, according to Bloomberg, citing data from S&P Global Mobility. The lion’s share went to SpaceX, which accounted for 1,279 of the 7,071 total registrations, while another 60 went to xAI (now part of SpaceX), Neuralink, and The Boring Company. All told, these inter-company sales represent roughly $100 million in value, and a vital lifeline for a vehicle that has failed to gain traction with the public, forcing Tesla to scale back production.

Musk’s companies have continued to scoop up the stainless steel behemoths this year, with another 158 Cybertruck purchases in January and 67 in February.

Rani Molla22h

TSMC CEO on Tesla and Intel’s Terafab: “There are no shortcuts”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly asked the chip industry suppliers for his Terafab chipmaking project to move at “light speed” in an effort to help Tesla and SpaceX manufacture the AI chips they need.

On the company’s last earnings call, Musk said chip supply would be the “limiting factor” for Tesla’s growth in about three or four years. During a presentation for Terafab last month, Musk said, “We either build the Terafab or we don’t have the chips.” More established chipmaker Intel has since joined the effort.

Still, the world’s largest chipmaker isn’t convinced that “light speed” is physically possible. Speaking on an earnings call this morning, TSMC Chairman and CEO CC Wei offered a blunt assessment of Terafab’s ambitious timeline: “There are no shortcuts.” According to Wei, the physics of a modern foundry, which he says takes roughly five years to build and ramp, remains the ultimate speed limit, regardless of the customer’s urgency. “That’s a fundamental of the foundry industry,” he said.

Wei noted that Tesla remains a TSMC customer.

OpenAI set to start rolling out ads to free and ChatGPT Go users

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