ChatGPT Since its launch, even the free version has not had any.AdvertisementThe purpose is simply to gain more users, but as computing power demands grow, the costs and subsequent investment amounts increase.OpenAI Finally started testing “ads,” and recently there are overseas users on the latest APK Clues found in the beta version suggest it may be rolling out soon, and in the future, using ChatGPT will show “various ads,” though it’s speculated that this will only appear in the free version.
The latest leak shows ChatGPT has already started testing its “advertising” feature!
Recently, a Tibor user shared on the X social platform that in the ChatGPT Android App version 1.2025.329 beta, they discovered strings related to “advertising features,” such as “bazaar content,” “search ad,” and “search ads carousel,” indicating that OpenAI is already preparing to add ads to ChatGPT:
How would ChatGPT’s ads be presented? That’s still unknown for now. There are rumors online that they might be added into the “thinking process,” but it could also follow an approach similar to Google’s, where ads related to what you’re asking about would appear. However, ChatGPT would definitely understand users better than Google does.
Remember, ChatGPT now has a so-called memory function, meaning that in addition to observing “what you ask,” it can also pick up on your past habits to find ads you’d actually be interested in. So we can expect AI to deliver a brand-new experience that won’t come across as annoying.
An earlier report this month from The Information also noted that OpenAI is exploring the possibility of incorporating ads based on ChatGPT’s “memory” or “chat content.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously said at a Harvard Business School event that combining advertising with AI “makes me particularly uneasy,” and called it “our last resort as a business model.”
Of course, many people probably still can’t quite accept ads, but since it’s free and we want this tool to be good, ads are unavoidable—it’s just a matter of time.
The interesting thing is that this time Tibor found this ad-related string in an Android APK file — not sure if iOS or Mac has it. A netizen joked in the comments on this post, “Will this be the first new feature that Android users get before iOS users?”
However, before OpenAI introduces advertising features into ChatGPT, hopefully they can first properly improve GPT and image generation capabilities. After Google recently rolled out Gemini 3 Pro and Nano Banana Pro in succession, GPT-5.1 has already fallen noticeably behind. Quite a few long-time ChatGPT Pro users are considering whether to cancel their subscriptions and switch to Gemini, especially since Gemini’s free version still doesn’t have ads. ChatGPT’s top priority should be figuring out how to retain users.
Source: KOCPC Chinese