ChatGPT's 800 million weekly users are concerned that OpenAI, whose mission is to create artificial intelligence that benefits all humanity, is starting to publish advertisements on the platform.
Screenshots ChatGPT interface showing what appear to be targeted advertisements are circulating on social media.
OpenAI Head of ChatGPT, Nick TurleyHowever, he denied these rumors in a post on X on Saturday.
“I'm seeing a lot of confusion about rumors of advertising on ChatGPT. There are no live ad tests – any screenshots you've seen are either fake or not an ad. If we do advertise, we will take a thoughtful approach,” he said. “People trust ChatGPT, and everything we do will take that into account.”
Earlier this week, user X posted a screenshot on X of what he called a “SHOPPING ADVERTISING FOR A GOOD PURPOSE.”
“If it's a 'feature,' let me turn it off,” he added.
The link to shop at Target in the screenshot is likely related to a new shopping feature rather than any move by the company to enable direct advertising on the platform.
In late September, OpenAI announced that it was taking “the first steps toward agent commerce on ChatGPT, providing new opportunities for people, AI agents, and businesses to shop together.”
At the same time, the company launched an instant checkout feature created in collaboration with Stripe, a financial technology company.
When the bot is asked a purchasing question, ChatGPT shows the most relevant products from around the web, and if those products support instant checkout, users can navigate to the Buy tab, OpenAI says on its website.
This does not mean that at some point advertisements will stop appearing on ChatGPT.
OpenAI has said it is considering advertising on the platform, which is perhaps unsurprising given its huge user base, some of which are paying customers.
In a post on X in late November, developer Tibor Blaho said he found code in the ChatGPT Android app that contained references to an “advertising feature.”
“Searching apps for unreleased features is a long-standing technology hobby, and sometimes it actually produces results. It's also entirely possible that what Blaho found is… something other than an ad product roadmap,” says Business Insider. Peter Kafka wrote at that time.
In any case, any plans by OpenAI to publish ads on ChatGPT appear to be on hold after the high-profile release Google Gemini 3 last month.
Altman told OpenAI employees in an internal Slack memo, seen by multiple outlets, that he was releasing “code red” in response to the positive reception Gemini 3 received. He said the company would devote more resources to ChatGPT and delay the release of other products and features, including advertising.
De Craik, Turley and OpenAI did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
