Leak confirms OpenAI is preparing ads on ChatGPT for public roll out

It’s happening: a beta of the ChatGPT Android app quietly name-drops an “ads feature”, including “search ads” and a carousel, hinting that ads will pop up in your AI “search” soon—and maybe everywhere later. ChatGPT hasn’t pushed ads like Google, but the mood online is pure reality TV. One user declared “RIP their stock price”, another begged “better hope Anthropic isn’t in on it,” and a third shrugged **“this already happened… with shopping queries.” The biggest thread? Fear that an AI—an LLM, meaning a large language model—that knows your tastes, habits, and tone could steer you toward products and values without you noticing.

The memes are spicy: “ads and smut in the same month?” and a pile-on of Cory Doctorow’s favorite word, enshittification. Meanwhile, the stakes are massive: ChatGPT clocks about 800 million weekly users, 2.5 billion prompts a day, and India now leads usage. If OpenAI experiments with memory-based ads, the vibe is “your AI assistant turned QVC host.” Some say ads could bank serious cash thanks to that scale; others predict a trust crash and a sprint to competitors. Oh, and OpenAI’s roadmap still teases GPT‑5.1 flavors (no GPT‑6 in 2025), plus new features like Pulse—just as the ad drama steals the spotlight. Buckle up: Sponsored thoughts might be the new normal.