Sam Altman open to ads on ChatGPT, calls Instagram ads ‘kinda cool’

It was only a matter of time before OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the inevitable: ads in ChatGPT.

On the debut episode of OpenAI’s official podcast, Altman was asked whether ads might show up in ChatGPT. He didn’t dodge the topic. In fact, he sounded casually on board:

“We haven’t done any advertising product yet. I kind of…I mean, I’m not totally against it. I can point to areas where I like ads. I think ads on Instagram, kinda cool. I bought a bunch of stuff from them. But I am, like, I think it’d be very hard to…I mean, take a lot of care to get right.”

The idea that Instagram ads are “cool” never gets a proper follow-up in the episode, but the real takeaway is that the door to advertising in ChatGPT is cracked open.

OpenAI hasn’t needed to rely on ads, largely thanks to unprecedented levels of venture capital. In March, the company raised $40 billion — the largest private tech funding round in history. That followed $6.6 billion from Microsoft and Nvidia in Oct. 2024. Just last week, OpenAI secured a $200 million contract with the US Department of Defense.

The company needs that kind of capital. Keeping ChatGPT operational reportedly costs upwards of $3 to $4 billion a year. Operating at that scale means revenue models may eventually shift from experimental to inevitable. According to The Verge, ChatGPT has 20 million subscribers, and OpenAI projects $12.7 billion in revenue for 2025.

Altman isn’t the first to consider advertising inside an AI chatbot. Google has been experimenting with native ads in Gemini. The concept has precedent, even if unofficial.

This also isn’t the first time ads have come up in the context of ChatGPT. In a 2024 discussion at Harvard Business School, Altman described advertising as a “last resort” for OpenAI—a path he clearly wanted to avoid. By March of this year, that stance had softened. In an interview, he admitted, “Maybe there’s a tasteful way we can do ads, but I don’t know.”

Just a few months later, Altman’s tone has shifted again. He’s more direct and open and clearly thinking through how ads could fit into ChatGPT’s future. OpenAI hasn’t provided any specifics yet, but the idea is on the table.

As companies like OpenAI and Google pivot toward AI-powered search, the incentive to insert paid messaging grows stronger. Ads may not be here yet, but it appears the infrastructure and the intent are starting to align.

Alternatively, ChatGPT ads could be more like something many people are already familiar with: A slick T-shirt slipped between prompt responses, just like Instagram slots ads between stories. For now, at least, we don’t have to imagine what that looks like.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.