The history of ChatGPT Ads: from “last resort” to 52 countries in seven months

Before: “ads as a last resort”

In 2024, Sam Altman said he saw advertising as a last resort for OpenAI’s business model, pointing to the risk of eroding user trust in the answers. The same year, CFO Sarah Friar said there were “no active plans” for an ad product.

The context shifted fast. ChatGPT claimed hundreds of millions of weekly users, the vast majority on the free tier, and compute costs soared. According to figures reported by the trade press, OpenAI expected around $14 billion in losses in 2026 and targeted $2.4 billion in ad revenue for the year.

Late 2025: the early signals

As early as September 2025, a job listing for a “Growth Paid Marketing Platform” engineer was circulating. In late November 2025, ad-related strings were found in a beta of the ChatGPT Android app. In early December, an internal “code red” memo focused on product quality against competitors reportedly paused the ads project for a while.

The full timeline

February 2026: a pilot for big brands

The first format was simple: a sponsored unit under the answer, for logged-in adult Free and Go users, US only. Access ran through OpenAI’s sales team, with a minimum commitment of several hundred thousand dollars according to press reports, and a CPM around $60, several times the price of a Facebook impression.

Early advertisers named included Target, Ford, Adobe and Mrs. Meyer’s. Over 600 advertisers reportedly joined the pilot. The big agency holding companies (Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis, WPP) and platforms such as Criteo, StackAdapt, Kargo and Pacvue became partners.

May 2026: the self-serve switch

The real turning point came on May 5, 2026: OpenAI opened its Ads Manager to every US business, dropped the entry ticket and added cost-per-click bidding, with a recommended starting bid of $3–$5. A pixel and a Conversions API now measure purchases, sign-ups and leads. In June, product feed campaigns arrived for retailers.

This shift from a big-account model to an open one is exactly the path Facebook and Google took in their day. It changes the nature of the platform: auction pressure rises, prices normalise.

August 2026: Europe, with its own rules

On August 18, OpenAI announced 31 European markets, live from August 24, with self-serve on August 31. Europe isn’t a carbon copy of the US: since its EU policy update of June 2, 2026, OpenAI relies on explicit opt-in consent rather than legitimate interest to personalise ads. Without consent, ads stay purely contextual.

Early European accounts also found fewer options: region-level geo-targeting, no custom audiences, automatic bidding only.

What this history says about what’s next

Three lessons for advertisers. First, the platform changes every month: what’s true today (formats, countries, options) will be partly wrong in six months. Second, prices have already dropped sharply since the pilot, opening the door to small businesses. Third, OpenAI itself says it doesn’t yet have benchmarks by industry: serious early advertisers are building a learning advantage right now.

To act on it, follow our guide to launching a ChatGPT Ads campaign and check the first hard numbers from the US and Europe.