OpenAI Might Add Ads to ChatGPT as Costs Rise, Says CEO Sam Altman

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OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is thinking about adding ads to its popular AI tool to help cover growing expenses, according to CEO Sam Altman. Speaking on OpenAI’s podcast, Altman said the company is open to the idea, a change from last year when he called ads a “last resort” during a talk at Harvard Business School. With ChatGPT costing $3 to $4 billion a year to run and expected revenue of $12.7 billion in 2025, OpenAI is looking for new ways to pay the bills.

Altman stressed that any ads wouldn’t mess with ChatGPT’s answers, saying that changing responses to favor advertisers would “ruin trust.” Instead, ads might show up outside the chat, like how Instagram places ads in its feed, which Altman called “kind of cool.” This way, OpenAI hopes to make money without affecting the quality of ChatGPT, which people use for everything from work to personal questions.

Other AI companies, like Google with its Gemini chatbot, are already blending ads into their platforms, showing the pressure to make AI profitable. Running ChatGPT is expensive—each question uses about 0.34 watt-hours of electricity and a tiny bit of water, Altman shared in a June 2025 blog post. Even with 20 million paying users and deals with companies like Apple, OpenAI needs more cash to keep growing.

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There’s no set date for when ads might appear, but Altman’s comments suggest OpenAI is seriously considering it as they gear up for the GPT-5 launch this summer. As OpenAI shifts to a for-profit business, it’ll have to balance making money with keeping users happy and protecting their privacy, especially after past legal issues over data. If ads come to ChatGPT, it could change how people use it and might influence how other AI companies handle ads too.