TL;DR: With around 800 million weekly users, 95% of whom are on the free tier, it's somewhat surprising that OpenAI has never introduced ads to its incredibly popular chatbot. But based on some newly discovered code, it appears that will soon change.
Developer Tibor Blaho was digging into the code in a beta version of ChatGPT's Android app when he found some new lines that suggest the impending arrival of ads to the service.
The 1.2025.329 beta version includes references to an ads feature, bazaar content, search ad, and search ads carousel. The final version of the app isn't yet available to the public, but the discovery does suggest that OpenAI is getting ready to generate some extra revenue from the hundreds of millions of people on its free tier.
OpenAI has imported approximately 630 former Meta employees representing about 20% of its roughly 3,000 staff according to LinkedIn data analyzed by The Information, with OpenAI's Slack having a channel just for former Meta employees according to a current employee and many… https://t.co/OGklBb2Odj pic.twitter.com/fah7Bii7pR
– Tibor Blaho (@btibor91) October 24, 2025
Reports that OpenAI was considering adding ads to ChatGPT first appeared in The Information earlier this month. The publication wrote that Sam Altman's firm has hired around 630 former Meta employees, about 20% of its 3,000 employees, and has a Slack channel devoted to Meta alums.
OpenAI is reportedly considering whether ChatGPT could show ads based on its knowledge of users gathered from memory or previous chats – targeted advertising, basically.
Focus groups have revealed that some users already think ChatGPT has ads – a finding that some OpenAI staff are using as justification for introducing them.
OpenAI boss Altman previously appeared to be against ads, calling them "uniquely unsettling" and a "last resort." But he recently changed his stance, saying on the first episode of the OpenAI podcast that he wasn't totally against ads but hadn't figured out a way to embed them into the company's products.
While the code doesn't reveal any details, it's likely that the ads will appear in ChatGPT's free tier, following the same strategy as streaming services that subsidize their cheaper plans with ads.
ChatGPT's free and paid tiers differ mainly in power, speed, features, and reliability. The free version offers basic access but comes with message limits, occasional slowdowns during busy periods, and reduced access to advanced tools or the newest AI models. OpenAI will likely hope the introduction of ads would be the final push that moves some users onto paid plans.