ChatGPT is about to put ads next to the images it creates.

ChatGPT is about to put ads next to the images it creates.

OpenAI is expanding its advertising business from text-based placements into visual ads, turning ChatGPT’s image-generation experience into another potential storefront.

The ads are expected to begin appearing later this month in the U.S., initially with a small group of advertisers. OpenAI says they’ll be clearly labeled and won’t influence ChatGPT’s answers.

Here’s the real story:

OpenAI isn’t just adding another ad format.

It’s building the infrastructure for a much bigger advertising business around ChatGPT’s enormous audience — currently about 1.2 billion weekly users, according to the company.

The company is also expanding ad measurement, attribution, geographic testing, and brand-suitability tools to make ChatGPT more attractive to serious advertisers.

And there’s an interesting incentive hiding underneath all of this.

If ads become increasingly visible inside ChatGPT, paying for an ad-free experience becomes more valuable.

OpenAI may have just found a way to monetize the moment you ask AI to create something beautiful.