ChatGPT introduces ads for free and Go subscription users

NEW YORK: OpenAI recently began testing ads in ChatGPT for its free and Go subscription users in the US.

The Go plan, which was released globally in mid-January, is available for $8 per month, while higher-tier Premium subscription users will be able to use an ad-free model.

Regarding users’ concerns about whether ads will influence their questions and answers, OpenAI explained in a blog post that “ads do not influence ChatGPT’s answers, and your conversations are protected from advertising companies.”

OpenAI says the goal of the ads is to provide users with more powerful ChatGPT features witha broader reach and to maintain user trust.

Recently, OpenAI’s major competitor Anthropic mocked the idea of ​​ads in chatbots through Super Bowl commercials, to which OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded strongly, calling Anthropic a “dictatorship company.”

Last year, the idea of ​​ads in ChatGPT came under fire after some suggestions in the app appeared to be unsolicited.

Critics believed that ads could impact ChatGPT’s performance, which OpenAI dismissed, saying that ads would be displayed in a way that was most helpful to users.

According to OpenAI, ads could be personalized based on common conversation topics, past interactions, and engagement patterns, but ad companies would only have access to aggregate data like views and clicks.

Users would be able to easily personalize ads based on their preferences, manage settings, provide feedback, see why they were shown an ad, and clear their interaction history.

However, the company clarified that these ads would only be displayed to users over the age of 18.