January 16, 2026
Ad GPT or Bad GPT?
Our approach to advertising and expanding access to ChatGPT
Ads hit ChatGPT as $8 Go rolls out—fans fear the magic fades
TLDR: OpenAI will test ads in ChatGPT’s free and $8 Go tiers while keeping paid Pro/Business ad‑free. The community erupted: many fear ads will erode trust and usefulness, some accept it as the cost of access—setting up a big fight over whether the super‑assistant becomes a billboard or stays helpful.
Big news: ChatGPT Go is $8 a month, and ads will be tested soon for the free and Go tiers in the U.S. OpenAI vows the ads won’t change answers, your chats aren’t sold, and you can turn off personalization. Paid Pro/Business/Enterprise stay ad‑free. Ads won’t show for under‑18s or near sensitive topics like health or politics. The pitch: ads help more people use a “super‑assistant” with fewer limits without paying.
But the comments went full reality TV. One top line: “Enshittified,” with a chorus predicting an “AI winter” and saying datacenters exist to please shareholders. A hot fear: once ads arrive, the system will chase engagement, not correct answers—“this will kill ChatGPT as a useful tool.” Another doom‑note: “Plus will be next.” A few weary pragmatists sighed, “compute is expensive,” and said ads might keep access broad. The meme train rolled: AdGPT, “sponsored spoon‑feeding,” and cracks about asking for recipes and getting snack ads. Skeptics pointed to an HN thread, while one snarked that the PR sentence took “so many man‑hours.” The vibe: access vs trust, and the fight’s just beginning.
Key Points
- •ChatGPT Go is expanded to the U.S. and all ChatGPT markets at $8/month, offering messaging, image creation, file uploads, and memory.
- •OpenAI will begin testing ads in the U.S. for the free and Go tiers in the coming weeks; Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers will remain ad-free.
- •Ads will be clearly labeled, separated from answers, and will not influence ChatGPT’s responses.
- •OpenAI states it will keep conversations private, never sell data to advertisers, and allow users to turn off personalization and clear ad data.
- •During testing, ads will not be shown to users under 18 and will not appear near sensitive topics such as health, mental health, or politics.