ChatGPT Ads Are Coming: New Code Leaks Reveal Major OpenAI Shift

OpenAI’s viral chatbot is approaching a major shift, as new leaks strongly suggest that ChatGPT will soon include advertising across its platform. 

The discovery arrives just after ChatGPT’s third anniversary, a milestone that highlights the chatbot’s extraordinary rise since late 2022, when it went mainstream and rapidly accumulated hundreds of millions of users (Yahoo). With an estimated 800 million people using ChatGPT today, most of them on the free tier, the introduction of ads appears increasingly likely as OpenAI looks for new ways to sustain the cost of running its powerful AI models. Recent beta code discovered in the Android app offers the clearest indication yet that an ad-supported version is on the horizon.

Multiple researchers and developers have uncovered references to advertising throughout beta version 1.2025.329 of the ChatGPT Android app. These include explicit terms such as “ads feature,” “search ad,” “search ads carousel,” and “bazaar content,” all pointing to the groundwork for various ad formats that could appear inside the app’s interface (Yahoo; TechRadar; NotebookCheck). The discovery was widely shared by Tibor Blaho, a well known AI engineer who has frequently reported on early OpenAI code changes. His findings align with earlier comments from OpenAI executives acknowledging that ads were being considered as a potential revenue stream. As generative AI becomes more expensive to operate, especially with models like GPT-5 now offered for free, advertising may present OpenAI with a financially viable path forward.

Though OpenAI has not announced how ads would appear, early hints suggest that advertising may be integrated into areas such as search, shopping research, or other conversational queries, where sponsored content could fit naturally into the flow of information. This aligns with patterns established by other AI platforms. Google’s AI Overviews, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Perplexity have already begun showing ads within responses, making OpenAI’s participation in this trend more expected than surprising (Yahoo). TechRadar reports that even some paying users claim to have seen test ads in their accounts, including at least one instance of a Peloton ad shown to a ChatGPT Pro subscriber. It remains unclear whether this was intentional experimentation or a bug, but it reinforces the sense that OpenAI is actively testing different ad delivery mechanisms (TechRadar).

The larger debate centers on whether ads will apply only to free users or extend to premium tiers as well. Most speculation suggests that subscribers will remain shielded from ads, preserving the uninterrupted experience they pay for (NotebookCheck). Still, the uncertainty has stirred significant backlash online. Many longtime users worry that introducing advertising could erode the chatbot’s neutrality, introduce manipulation, or reduce trust in the platform’s responses. Some Reddit users have described the development as the “enshitification” of ChatGPT, a term criticizing the way digital platforms often decline in quality as they seek to maximize profit (NotebookCheck). Others have threatened to switch to competing services such as Google Gemini or open-source AI tools if ads become intrusive.

OpenAI has remained silent on the details, offering no timeline, implementation model, or confirmation of how user data might be leveraged to target ads. Past reports have indicated that ChatGPT could theoretically use its memory features to help personalize advertising, though this too remains unconfirmed (Yahoo). With code already detected in public beta versions and increasing reports of test ads surfacing, it appears increasingly likely that OpenAI is preparing for an official rollout. If the company follows last year’s timing, an announcement could coincide with a late-year event similar to its prior “12 Days of OpenAI” showcase. For now, users can only wait to see how, and how quickly, the experience of chatting with one of the world’s most influential AI systems begins to change.

This article was written by the Covertly.AI team. Covertly.AI is a secure, anonymous AI chat that protects your privacy. Connect to advanced AI models without tracking, logging, or exposure of your data. Whether you’re an individual who values privacy or a business seeking enterprise-grade data protection, Covertly.AI helps you stay secure and anonymous when using AI. With Covertly.AI, you get seamless access to all popular large language models - without compromising your identity or data privacy.

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Works Cited

“ChatGPT Will Soon Display Ads, New Leak Suggests.” Yahoo News, tech.yahoo.com/ai/chatgpt/articles/chatgpt-soon-display-ads-leak-125157782.html.

“Brace Yourself, ChatGPT Fans – an OpenAI Leak Suggests Ads Could Be Coming to Your Conversations Very Soon.” TechRadar, www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/chatgpt/brace-yourself-chatgpt-fans-an-openai-leak-suggests-ads-could-come-to-your-conversations-very-soon.

“ChatGPT May Soon Include Advertising.” NotebookCheck, www.notebookcheck.net/Leak-ChatGPT-may-soon-include-advertising.1174552.0.html.

Digital Watch Observatory. “OpenAI Study Shows ChatGPT Adoption Widening.” Digital Watch, 18 Sept. 2025, https://dig.watch/updates/openai-study-shows-chatgpt-adoption-widening.