OpenAI has officially announced the introduction of advertising to ChatGPT. At first, the ads will be introduced in the USA, but other regions of the world will certainly join this group. This decision raises serious doubts – will the chatbot to which users entrust their most intimate questions follow in the footsteps of Facebook and Google?
ChatGPT ADS? How will this work?
Ads will appear on the free version of ChatGPT and the cheaper Go plan. Users of the Pro, Business and Enterprise plans will remain commercial-free (at least for now). OpenAI ensures that ads will be clearly separated from the chatbot’s responses and will not influence their content. The company also promises that it will not sell user conversations, will allow you to turn off ad personalization, and that people under 18 and sensitive topics (such as health or politics) will be protected.
The ChatGPT community should ask itself how long these voluntary protections will last when advertising becomes a key source of revenue? And it is worth recalling that data from January 2026 indicate 800 million users… per week.
We know this movie and it does not have a happy ending
Fifteen years ago, social media platforms had the same problem – a huge user base, but no idea how to make money. The breakthrough was brought by targeted advertising, adapted to what we are looking for, what we click and what we pay attention to. This model became the business foundation of Google and Facebook, transforming their services into machines for maximizing engagement.
In the beginning there were promises too. Self-regulation, privacy protection, user security. History has shown how quickly these guarantees give way under commercial pressure. The Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed how data collected for advertising can be used for political manipulation. The Facebook Files showed that Meta knew about the harmful effects of its platforms on teenagers’ mental health, but rejected changes that threatened advertising revenues. More recent investigations? Meta continues to make money from deceptive ads despite warnings about their harmfulness.
Chatbots pose a higher level of risk
ChatGPT is not just another social media feed. People use chatbots in an intimate way – they look for advice, emotional support, and confide in things they would not say publicly. This trust enhances persuasion in a way that traditional social media cannot.
Is there a better solution?
The advertising model rewards platforms for maximizing engagement, but the content that best captures attention is often misleading, emotionally manipulative or harmful. This is why voluntary restrictions always fail.
The alternative is to treat AI like public infrastructure – systems designed for social good, not advertising revenue. Switzerland has created Apertus – a publicly funded AI system compliant with European law, open source and ad-free. Australia could go further: build its own AI tools and impose clear rules on commercial providers. Poles are also working in their home field, increasingly developing Bielik, one of two Polish LLMs.
Advertising didn’t corrupt social media overnight. They slowly changed methods until social harm became the price of private gain. Transferring this model to AI chatbots is repeating the mistake – this time in systems that users trust much more.
