OpenAI appeared to be closer to pulling the trigger on advertising in ChatGPT in recent days, but a growing threat from Google has forced the company to pause those plans as it gears up for a quickly escalating chatbot fight.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent a memo to staff on December 1 declaring a “code red” and ordering the company’s primary focus to be on improving ChatGPT. As part of that directive, Altman reportedly said the company would be pushing back work on other projects, including the introduction of advertising to its chatbot.
The about-face came just days after Tibor Blaho, an engineer working on a Chrome extension that offers pre-written prompts for ChatGPT, posted on social media that he had discovered lines of code which heavily referenced ads in a beta version of ChatGPT’s Android app, including mentions of “ads feature,” “search ad,” and “bazaar content.” (That beta has not yet been released to the public.)
Altman has hedged when the topic of ads in ChatGPT has come up previously. While saying he “hates ads” personally, he added at a 2024 Harvard University fireside chat that he was “not totally against them” and stressed, “I’m not saying OpenAI would never consider ads.”
He cushioned those comments, though, by saying “ads plus AI is uniquely unsettling to me. When I think of GPT writing me a response, if I had to go figure out exactly how much was [a sponsor] paying . . . to influence what I’m being shown, I don’t think I would like that very much.”
The discovery of ad code is not conclusive proof that ChatGPT will incorporate advertisements into its chatbot. It’s possible OpenAI is planning to work with other companies to let them personalize ad content on other sites based on ChatGPT usage.
OpenAI did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the ad code.
ChatGPT has become a Goliath in the AI space. In October, Altman disclosed that the chatbot sees 800 million weekly active users, a big jump from the 500 million WAUs it reported at the end of March. It has amassed that sizable user base in just three years.
But as it has grown, so too have competitors. Google’s Gemini AI has emerged recently as perhaps the most serious threat to OpenAI’s dominance, outpacing ChatGPT in industry benchmarks. Gemini 3, released last month, also has a huge built-in user base, as the technology was inserted into Google Search as well as a full suite of developer tools.
Altman’s memo indicates the company is feeling the pressure from Gemini and other AI firms, which (like OpenAI) are spending heavily in the race for leadership in the AI space. Altman told his team that work needed to be done on improving personalization for users, increasing speed and reliability, and widening the range of questions that ChatGPT can answer.
Right now, OpenAI generates much of its revenue from partnerships with businesses that use its API model and via paid subscriptions to its most advanced technology. (A free version that is less advanced is available to users who prefer not to pay.)
The company is on track to hit $20 billion in revenue this year. Altman has said he expects that figure to grow to hundreds of billions by 2030.
Even so, the company says it cannot guarantee it will turn a profit within the next five years, given the high cost of computing. In the meantime, it expects to post massive losses, including a projected $74 billion shortfall in 2028.
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