OpenAI is introducing key changes as it continues to evolve ChatGPT.
Last week, the startup announced that it’s making its most affordable subscription tier, ChatGPT Go, available globally. At the same time, it is rolling out advertising to the platform, with testing set to start soon in the U.S. for adults using its free tier or those on its Go plan. The moves come amid continuing scrutiny of OpenAI’s massive losses, which stretch to billions of dollars.
ChatGPT Go was initially launched in India in August to widen access to AI and has since been rolled out in 170 other countries.
Its affordability has helped it become the fastest growing ChatGPT plan, with users leveraging it for everyday tasks such as writing, learning, image creation and problem-solving, according to according to OpenAI.
Now, the company has made the decision to offer the plan in every market where ChatGPT is currently available. ChatGPT Go will be priced at $8 a month in the U.S., with equivalent localized pricing in other markets, joining ChatGPT Plus ($20 a month) and ChatGPT Pro ($200 a month).
The cheapest plan provides added access to the Chat GPT 5.2 instant model, with ten times more messages, file uploads and image creation than in the free tier, plus a longer memory and context window, so it remembers more details about you over time.
The next tier up, Plus, is aimed at those who require deeper reasoning, while Pro targets power users who need maximum memory and context.
The decision to include advertising, meanwhile, brings with it a degree of risk, with OpenAI acknowledging in a blog post: “It’s crucial we preserve what makes ChatGPT valuable in the first place.”
As such, the company has pledged that its responses will never be driven by advertising; that data and conversations will not be sold to advertisers; and that there will always be an option to disable personalization.
In addition, OpenAI says those who do not wish to see ads in ChatGPT will always be catered for via a paid tier that is ad-free.
Testing will start “in the coming weeks” for logged in adults in the free and Go tiers in the U.S., with clearly labeled ads sited at the bottom of answers featuring a relevant product based on a user’s conversation. Sensitive topics — such as health or politics — will remain ad-free.
OpenAI is seeking feedback from users to help it refine how it serves ads in future. For the time being, Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise subscriptions will not include ads.
Given the company’s need to increase revenues, the decision to introduce advertising does not constitute a surprise, but it does mark a major U-turn by CEO Sam Altman, who in 2024 described the prospect of a combination of AI and ads as “uniquely unsettling” and a “last resort” for the company as a business model.
