OpenAI has confirmed that ChatGPT users in India will now see advertisements, its second-largest market. ChatGPT Ads are already live in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea, making India the 6th market to receive the new update.
Ads in ChatGPT Go Live in India
OpenAI will now place sponsored advertisements for its free and ChatGPT Go Plan customers in India. The company has clarified that only logged-in users aged 18 years and above will see ads within ChatGPT responses.
Hence, from now on, whenever a free or ChatGPT Go user uses the platform, OpenAI will embed relevant advertisements at the end of each chat response. The sponsored content will be clearly labelled as "Sponsored," and users will be able to visit the advertiser's website directly via a three-dot menu.
At the time of writing, OpenAI has kept the advertisement format simple. The platform has partnered with WPP and Omicron to serve as ChatGPT's agency partners for ads in India. This will help OpenAI find relevant target ads based on queries of users in India, to tailor the targeted recommendation based on the exact user query.
Moreover, OpenAI has confirmed that ads will not influence ChatGPT responses in any way. The company says that irrespective of sponsored placements, all ChatGPT models will answer based on the user's query rather than meeting requirements for adverts.
Moving on, OpenAI has outlined three scenarios for ads to not appear inside ChatGPT:
- No ads for users under the age of 18, or for accounts OpenAI determines belong to a minor
- No ads alongside sensitive or regulated topics, including health, mental health and politics
- No ads at all on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education plans
On the privacy front, OpenAI says advertisers cannot access users' chats, chat history, memories or personal details, and that it does not sell user data to advertisers or its agency partners.
ChatGPT users will also receive a new "Ads Controls" menu to fine-tune their ads experience. Users will be able to view and delete ads history, toggle interests, opt in for personalised ads and let ChatGPT use past conversations to present more targeted ads.
That said, for users in India who do not wish to see ads inside ChatGPT, the only option is to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus at Rs 1,999 per month. OpenAI has confirmed that more than 50 brands are expected to go live with ads in India this week. From September 4, 2026, businesses of any size will get self-serve access to the ChatGPT Ads Manager, with daily budgets starting at Rs 725.
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