OpenAI has launched its advertising programme in India, meaning millions of people using the free versions of ChatGPT will begin seeing sponsored content alongside their AI conversations.
The company announced on Thursday that ChatGPT Ads will initially be available to logged-in adults using the Free and Go plans. Users on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education subscriptions will continue to use ChatGPT without advertisements.
The ads will appear below a ChatGPT response when OpenAI considers a sponsored product or service relevant to the conversation. They will be clearly marked as sponsored and displayed separately from the AI-generated answer. OpenAI says the advertisements will not influence the answers provided by ChatGPT.
The launch makes India one of the largest markets for OpenAI's advertising programme. More than 50 brands are expected to start displaying advertisements on ChatGPT in the country this week.
How ChatGPT Ads will work
OpenAI has partnered with advertising agencies WPP and Omnicom for the initial rollout. The partnership is non-exclusive, meaning the company can work with other agencies as the programme expands.
From September 4, businesses will also be able to use the self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager. OpenAI said companies of all sizes will be able to start advertising with daily budgets from ₹725.
The ads are designed to appear when users are actively looking for information, comparing products or considering different options.
“India is one of the most dynamic markets in the world for how people use ChatGPT to learn, build, and discover. Our weekly active users have doubled year-on-year, with many of them going beyond simple searches and changing how they make decisions. They ask questions, explore options, and weigh tradeoffs through conversation. With ChatGPT Ads, businesses of every size can introduce themselves at relevant, high-context moments when decisions are beginning to take shape,” said Dave Dugan, Vice President and Head of Global Ads Solutions, OpenAI.
“Our goal is to make those interactions useful, help marketers design for intelligent experiences, and preserve what makes ChatGPT valuable: independent answers, conversations that stay private from advertisers, and meaningful user control.”
What happens to users' conversations?
OpenAI says advertisers will not have access to users’ chats, chat history, memories or personal details. The company also says it does not sell user data to advertisers.
Advertisers will instead receive overall campaign information, such as the number of impressions and clicks, rather than information about individual users or their conversations.
Users will also be able to dismiss advertisements, provide feedback and see why an advertisement was displayed. OpenAI says users can turn off advertising personalisation and clear data used for advertising.