According to OpenAI on X (Twitter), the company has begun testing sponsored ads in ChatGPT for a subset of free and Go users in the U.S., stating that ads are labeled as sponsored, visually separated from answers, and do not influence model outputs. As reported by OpenAI’s post, the stated goal is to support free access to ChatGPT while maintaining response integrity, signaling a new monetization stream alongside ChatGPT Plus and enterprise offerings. According to OpenAI, the test indicates an advertising inventory inside conversational AI that could drive performance marketing and contextual placements around user intents, creating opportunities for brands to target high-intent prompts without affecting core answers. As reported by OpenAI’s announcement, this rollout may accelerate a broader ecosystem of AI-native ad formats, analytics, and safety controls for sponsored content in generative interfaces.