OpenAI’s admission that it tested ad-like promotions in ChatGPT Pro—even as executives deny any “live ads”—reveals the company is quietly laying groundwork to monetize conversations, a move that threatens the trust of paying users who expect a distraction-free, premium experience.
Quick Take
- OpenAI tested in-chat brand promotions for Peloton and Target in ChatGPT Pro ($200/month), sparking immediate backlash from paying subscribers who view ads as incompatible with premium pricing.
- Hidden code strings referencing “ads feature,” “bazaar content,” and “search ads carousel” in the Android app indicate systematic development of ad infrastructure, not accidental experimentation.
- The company’s denial of “live ads” while acknowledging the promotional tests represents semantic hair-splitting that erodes user trust and signals monetization is inevitable.
- Pro and Plus subscribers explicitly threatened cancellations, exposing OpenAI’s vulnerability to churn among its highest-value customers if ads reach paid tiers.
The Ad Experiment That Backfired
In early December 2025, ChatGPT Pro subscribers discovered promotional messages for Peloton and Target embedded in their conversations—brand suggestions unrelated to their queries and appearing without clear labeling. Screenshots spread rapidly across Reddit and X, with users expressing outrage that OpenAI would inject commercial content into a $200-per-month premium product. The backlash was swift and unforgiving, with paying customers threatening subscription cancellations and questioning whether OpenAI still valued their loyalty and revenue.
Evidence Points to Deliberate Ad Development
What makes this episode particularly revealing is the discovery of explicit ad-related code in ChatGPT’s Android application. Users examining the app’s underlying code found text strings referencing “ads feature,” “bazaar content,” “search ad,” and “search ads carousel”—technical terminology that suggests OpenAI is not casually exploring monetization but actively engineering an advertising system. This is not theoretical planning; this is infrastructure being built into the product architecture, waiting for activation.
OpenAI’s Denial Rings Hollow
When confronted, OpenAI executives Mark Chen and Nick Turley publicly insisted there are “no ads” and “no live tests for ads” in ChatGPT. Instead, they characterized the promotions as “non-paid app suggestions” meant to highlight third-party applications built on OpenAI’s platform. This distinction—between ads and app suggestions—reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of user expectations. To paying subscribers, a promotional message for a specific brand appearing in their workspace *is* an ad, regardless of whether OpenAI collected payment. The semantic defense undermines credibility and signals that executives either don’t grasp user concerns or are deliberately obscuring the reality of what occurred.
The Monetization Pressure Is Real
OpenAI’s actions reflect genuine business pressures. ChatGPT’s monthly active users declined by approximately three percentage points between August and November 2025, indicating growth has stalled. The company faces intensifying competition from Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and others. Subscription revenue alone may not sustain OpenAI’s massive operational costs and research ambitions. Advertising represents an obvious lever to diversify revenue and increase per-user monetization—a playbook perfected by Google, Meta, and other tech giants. The ad code is not speculative; it’s a response to financial necessity.
Premium Users Deserve Premium Experiences
The fundamental issue is that OpenAI violated an implicit contract with Pro and Plus subscribers: you pay for a premium, distraction-free tool. Ads—or their functional equivalent—destroy that value proposition. Users paying $20 to $200 monthly expect their experience to be optimized for utility, not revenue extraction. If OpenAI wants to monetize free users with ads, that conversation is different. But extending advertising to paid tiers crosses a line that erodes trust and justifies customer defection. The company’s willingness to test this boundary, even when user expectations were clear, demonstrates troubling priorities.
Ads Might Finally Be Coming to ChatGPT
https://t.co/ruWyvRZyOm pic.twitter.com/kkC0Ln3zni— Dr. Pénzes János (@drpenzesjanos) December 5, 2025
What Comes Next
OpenAI claims it has disabled the specific promotional implementation that sparked outrage, and the company insists it will take a “thoughtful approach” if ads are ever formally introduced. However, the existence of ad infrastructure in the codebase and the company’s apparent willingness to test promotional content in premium products suggest this is not the end of the conversation. Expect OpenAI to refine its approach—perhaps segmenting ads to free users only, or disguising sponsored content as contextual recommendations—and to reintroduce monetization more carefully when public attention fades. The groundwork is laid. The only question is timing.
Sources:
OpenAI says it’s turned off app suggestions that look like ads
