OpenAI launched ChatGPT Go in the US market on Friday, with a subscription fee of $8 per month, and will begin testing advertisements within the ChatGPT application for some US users. Analysts suggest this marks a significant step for the company in boosting its revenue.
The company stated that compared to the free version, ChatGPT Go users will have greater access to the latest model, GPT-5.2 Instant, offering more message credits, more file uploads, and enhanced image generation capabilities. The "Go" plan was first introduced in India and is now available in 171 countries and regions.
After subscribing to ChatGPT Go, users receive a 10x increase in message count, file upload, and image generation allowances compared to the free tier, enabling continuous, unrestricted conversations on GPT-5.2 Instant. Additionally, Go users benefit from extended memory and a larger context window, allowing ChatGPT to remember more relevant and helpful details over longer interactions.
With this launch, ChatGPT now offers three subscription tiers globally: ChatGPT Go at $8 per month; ChatGPT Plus at $20 per month; and ChatGPT Pro at $200 per month.
OpenAI also announced that in the coming weeks, advertisements will appear for logged-in users of the free version of ChatGPT, as well as for subscribers of the lower-priced $8 per month "Go" plan. The higher-priced paid tiers of ChatGPT will remain advertisement-free.
The company expressed that people trust ChatGPT for many important and personal tasks, making it crucial to preserve the core value of ChatGPT as ads are introduced. This means users must trust that ChatGPT's responses are always based on the most objectively useful information and are never influenced by ads; they must be confident their data and conversations are protected and never sold to advertisers; and the company must maintain high standards, giving users control over their experience, ensuring they see genuinely relevant, high-quality ads, with the option to disable personalization if desired.
Media analysis suggests OpenAI's decision to introduce ads reflects a broader strategy to diversify revenue ahead of a potential initial public offering, while also aiming to offset the massive costs associated with building and supporting AI systems. OpenAI expects it will be difficult to achieve profitability for many years and has committed to investing approximately $1.4 trillion in AI data centers and chips. CEO Sam Altman previously indicated that these investments would primarily be supported by future sales revenue.
The company stated that its long-term focus remains on building products valuable enough that millions of individuals and businesses are willing to pay for them. Its enterprise and subscription businesses are already very robust, and it believes a diversified revenue model can be effective, with advertising potentially playing a role in making intelligent services more widely accessible.
This move also signifies a strategic shift to some extent. Previously, OpenAI relied primarily on a subscription model. Altman had publicly expressed his personal aversion to advertising, describing it as a "last resort." He had been concerned that if users perceived the chatbot as promoting products, it could undermine trust in its responses. Two years ago, during a fireside chat at Harvard University, he stated that the combination of advertising and AI made him particularly uneasy and that he had always viewed ads as a last resort for their business model.
Meanwhile, other competitors, including Alphabet's Google, have already begun introducing ads into their AI products. Following the unexpected success and rapid growth of the Google Gemini chatbot, OpenAI declared a "code red" state last December. As part of the company's overall response, Altman stated that OpenAI needed to do a better job improving the core ChatGPT experience, including responding faster to users and providing more personalized answers.
In the initial phase, OpenAI plans to test displaying sponsored product and service ads at the bottom of relevant responses within ChatGPT, clearly distinguishing them from the chat content. The company suggested that ads could help users make better shopping decisions through the chatbot.
The company expressed that the best ads should be useful, interesting, and help people discover new products and services. The conversational interface moves beyond static information and links. For instance, in the future, a user might see an ad and then directly ask it questions to aid a purchasing decision.
The company hopes that ads will help users discover new products and services via the chatbot and will continuously adjust its approach based on user feedback. Fidji Simo, CEO of OpenAI's applied business overseeing the project, stated in a blog post that their enterprise and subscription businesses are already very robust, and they believe a diversified revenue model can work, with advertising potentially being part of making intelligent services more accessible.
OpenAI is drawing on practices from other large internet companies, including Meta and Google, which subsidize product costs by selling targeted ads to their massive user bases. ChatGPT now boasts over 800 million weekly active users. Several OpenAI executives previously worked at social media companies, including Simo, who drove the growth of Facebook's app advertising business before becoming CEO of Instacart.
Simo emphasized in the blog that OpenAI's advertisements will not influence the responses given by ChatGPT. The company also stated it will not share user conversation content with advertisers and will not show ads related to sensitive topics like mental health or politics to users it identifies as under 18. OpenAI added that it may adjust the ad product based on initial feedback.
Simo stated that as they introduce ads, it is crucial to preserve the core value of ChatGPT. This means users must trust that ChatGPT's answers are always based on objectively useful information and are never driven by advertising.
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