ChatGPT Update: OpenAI May Soon Show Ads To Free Users, All You Need To Know

Bad news for ChatGPT users as OpenAI may soon start showing ads inside the app. A new beta version of the ChatGPT Android app contains code that hints at upcoming advertising features. This code was found by developer Tibor Blaho on X, who spotted words like ads feature, search ad and bazaar content. The beta version, labelled 1.2025.329, is not available to the public yet, but the discovery has started new discussions about how OpenAI plans to earn money from ChatGPT.The development also comes after a report from The Information earlier this month, which claimed that OpenAI is exploring the idea of placing advertisements inside ChatGPT. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has spoken about this topic before. During a talk at Harvard Business School,

he called the mix of ads and AI 'uniquely unsettling' and said the company would treat ads as a 'last resort business model. However, he also made it clear that he is not completely against the idea if it becomes necessary.Altman again addressed the topic on the OpenAI podcast, saying the company is open to experimenting with ads, although it has not decided how they will be shown or where they will appear. The newly discovered code does not reveal exact details but it suggests that ads could be targeted at users of the free version of ChatGPT. The free tier already has usage limits and adding ads could be one way for OpenAI to support the growing costs of running large AI models.If OpenAI does move ahead with this plan, the experience of using ChatGPT may change for millions of free users. Ads could appear during searches, inside chat responses or as sponsored suggestions, depending on how the company decides to implement them. For regular users who rely on ChatGPT for quick information, writing help or daily tasks, this change may feel disturbing.For now, the feature is still in early testing and not live for users. But the presence of ad-related code shows that OpenAI is actively exploring the idea. It remains to be seen how the company balances monetisation with user comfort, especially when ChatGPT is used by students, professionals and casual users around the world.