Six weeks sufficed. On February 9, OpenAI introduced advertisements in ChatGPT for free users in the U.S. By late March, the company announced the pilot exceeded $100 million in annualized revenue, attracted over 600 advertisers, and reached fewer than 20% of eligible users. OpenAI is now seeking external help to enhance these ads. According to Business Insider, they are collaborating with Smartly, an advertising automation platform from Helsinki, to bring conversational, interactive ads to ChatGPT, allowing ads to interact with users.
This partnership marks a shift from the static placements OpenAI first rolled out when it confirmed its ad plans in January. Initially, a sponsored card might appear under a product query, such as an air fryer ad after a countertop appliances question. The new interactive formats, as Smartly describes, enable users to engage with an ad through a chatbot experience offering tailored suggestions, transforming the ad into a secondary dialogue in ChatGPT’s interface.
Smartly, which reported $101 million in revenue in 2025 and has a $300 million valuation, is known for optimizing real-time campaigns for brands on Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat. Their role in the ChatGPT deal focuses on performance optimization, adjusting creative and targeting based on user engagement with the new formats. OpenAI has also partnered with Criteo, a French commerce-media firm, connecting around 17,000 advertisers to ChatGPT’s inventory since March 2. The company is in early talks with The Trade Desk about further scaling ads, but no deal has been confirmed.
Commercial infrastructure is rapidly forming. By late March, OpenAI hired David Dugan, former Meta VP, to lead its global advertising solutions team, reporting to COO Brad Lightcap. Dugan joins a leadership team that includes Fidji Simo, former Facebook exec and CEO of OpenAI’s apps division, and Denise Dresser, former Slack CEO and CRO since December 2025. This indicates a shift from ad experimentation to building a permanent sales structure.
OpenAI has told investors it expects ChatGPT consumer revenue to surpass $17 billion by 2026, with a significant share coming from ads targeting non-paying users. With over 800 million weekly active users but only 5% paying for subscriptions, OpenAI plans to launch self-serve ad tools soon, removing the $200,000 minimum commitment and opening the platform to smaller businesses. Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand pilots are planned, with global expansion set for the year.
The initial aggressive pricing was around $60 per thousand impressions, justified by Criteo’s data showing higher conversion rates from large language models. Nearly 80% of small and medium businesses reportedly show interest in advertising on the platform, indicating potential for rapid growth once self-serve access opens.
The privacy architecture around these ads will be crucial in determining whether they succeed or face backlash. OpenAI claims conversations remain private and aren’t shared with advertisers, who receive only aggregate data. Ads are not shown near sensitive topics like health or politics, and users under 18 don’t see them. However, critics remain. Ex-OpenAI researcher Zoe Hitzig argues that OpenAI may prioritize economic gains over its rules, highlighting ChatGPT’s vast personal data archive. When users click ads and complete purchases, data can return to OpenAI, and the updated privacy policy allows contact-syncing features even if users haven’t opted in.
Competitors are quick to exploit the situation. Anthropic, creator of the Claude chatbot, aired Super Bowl ads contrasting its ad-free model with OpenAI’s approach, portraying one company as user-focused and the other as treating users as products. Whether this distinction matters to ChatGPT’s free users is uncertain, but the reputational risk is significant for a company advocating responsible AI stewardship.
The conversational ad format developed with Smartly represents novelty in digital advertising — neither banners nor sponsored links but dialogues resembling users’ original purpose for engaging with ChatGPT. If successful, it could blur lines between commercial and organic content more effectively than Google or Meta. However, if it undermines trust, OpenAI may sacrifice its most valuable asset for a revenue stream that could have been built more cautiously. The $100 million annual run rate suggests the former, while recruiting a Meta-era ad team indicates OpenAI isn’t leaving it to chance.