“OpenAI” officially announced the start of testing a new advertising system on the “ChatGPT” application, in a pivotal step aimed at diversifying its sources of income to cover the enormous operational costs of artificial intelligence technologies. This step raised important questions about its potential impact on the privacy of conversations and the neutrality of answers.

How s work and are distributed:

The company explained that this initial trial will target users of the “free” version and the “ChatGPT Go” (low-cost) category in the United States in the first phase. The mechanism depends on several elements:

  • Visual Separation: Ads will appear under responses as “Sponsored Content” clearly separate from the original bot response.
  • Contextual Ads: The ad will be selected based on the topic of the conversation (Contextual Ads); For example, an for hotels may appear when planning a tourist trip, without the advertiser influencing the content of the answer.
  • Exclude minors: Ads will not appear to users under the age of eighteen, and will not appear next to sensitive topics such as health and politics.

Profitability versus privacy:

“OpenAI” confirmed that “data security” will remain its top priority, and that it will not sell conversation records to advertisers, nor will it allow them to access the user’s personal “memory.” However, advertisers will be able to obtain general data about ad interaction (number of views and clicks) to evaluate its effectiveness.

Challenges of trust and neutrality of artificial intelligence:

This trend raises concerns about “erosion of trust.” While experts argue that advertising is necessary to ensure the sustainability of the free service, others warn that reliance on advertising may create hidden pressures to direct users towards sponsors’ products. To address these concerns, the company gives users the option to disable “ad personalization” or delete ad interaction data at any time.

Future experience:

The company explains that the goal of this stage is to “learn” and monitor users’ reactions. It also confirmed that the paid versions (Plus, Pro, Business) will remain completely ad-free, which confirms the “service versus subscription” model for those who want a pure technology experience free of commercial interference.