ChatGPT puts the pedal to the metal: it could begin displaying ads today and will update its model this week

These advertisements, which will be "clearly labeled," will appear in a separate section below the chat window.
February 9, 2026

Just a few hours after its, let us say, public altercation with Anthropic following the announced implementation of advertisements on ChatGPT in the near future, Sam Altman’s company may have decided that the time has indeed come to launch this new era in its assistant. Let us recall that the company, in Altman’s own words, is currently in a “code red” situation.

According to sources close to the company cited by CNBC, ChatGPT will begin displaying advertisements as soon as this Monday. As we have anticipated in recent weeks, these advertisements, which will be “clearly labeled,” will appear in a separate section below the chat window.

Furthermore, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC that OpenAI expects advertising revenue to represent less than half of its income over the long term.

What else do we know about how advertisements will appear in ChatGPT?

In the same article, CNBC reports that the company will show these advertisements to its Free and Go plan users over the age of 18 in the United States, whether they use the free version or have subscribed to the Go plan, its most economical subscription. OpenAI assures that conversations will remain private and that advertisers will not influence the chat responses, although advertisements will be optimized according to what is considered most useful for the user.

Against a blue gradient background, two mobile phones are displayed, showing how advertisements function in ChatGPT on their screens. The phone on the right displays a feature that OpenAI plans to activate later, which will allow users to ask questions about the content of the advertisement.

Thanks to previous leaks, we know that ChatGPT advertisements will be displayed whenever the AI determines they are relevant, taking the context into account (with sensitive topics such as health, mental health, or politics being excluded). Additionally, advertisers who choose to place their advertisements in ChatGPT will be required to pay a CPM of $60, a rate that triples the average fee for Meta (Facebook/Instagram), which typically ranges from $15 to $20.

As mentioned, this development occurs following the recent controversy with Anthropic, which aired a Super Bowl commercial mocking OpenAI by claiming that advertisements are coming to AI systems, but not to its own chatbot, Claude—a campaign that Sam Altman described as clearly dishonest.

A new ChatGPT model?

On another note, CNBC also reports that, in an internal statement, Altman informed employees that OpenAI will launch an updated chat model this week, just a few days after the release of an advanced version of its programming agent, Codex. In addition, he noted that monthly growth for ChatGPT again exceeds 10%, after having reached 800 million weekly users last October.

Image: Gemini

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