Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#1

Post by shantnutiwari » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

I was on the £6.99/month program-- mainly because I didnt use it much. Last few days I've started seeing ads:

1. Ad for Financial Times 2. Add for Shein 3. Add for Amazon prime day

All 3 were on a chat where I was asking about tips on a mobile game.

Needless to say, I cancelled my plan. Im not paying money to see ads

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#2

Post by bflesch » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:20 PM UTC

How relevant were the ads? Were they integrated into the chat or shown as a box next to the conversation? How did they manage to add the topics to a conversation about mobile games?

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#3

Post by SOTGO » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:22 PM UTC

I see "This plan may include ads" under the $8 Go tier (accessed https://chatgpt.com/pricing/ from the US) going back to January. Is the behavior change recent?

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#4

Post by blourvim » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:24 PM UTC

Mildly disappointed that it is not the dystopian adpocalypse we were warned against

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#5

Post by khurs » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

Open AI attended the annual Cannes Ad Festival this year, alongside the usual Google, Meta etc

They have 900m users and 50m of them are paying.

Ads are inevitable. Surprised they put them on a paid plan user like you, but they are IPO'ing this year and need to show the best numbers possible.

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#6

Post by stranded22 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

They have been putting ads in the free and ‘go’ plans

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#7

Post by paxys » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:29 PM UTC

Yes their $8 (or equivalent) tier does have ads. It says so on https://chatgpt.com/pricing.

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#8

Post by paxys » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

SOTGO wrote: post #3

I see "This plan may include ads" under the $8 Go tier (accessed https://chatgpt.com/pricing/ from the US) going back to January. Is the behavior change recent?

Their entire ads rollout is recent.

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#9

Post by thrance » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC

blourvim wrote: post #4

Mildly disappointed that it is not the dystopian adpocalypse we were warned against

Patience, Google wasn't enshittified in a day, after all!

Re: Tell HN: OpenAI has started putting ads on paid programs

#10

Post by elashri » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:37 PM UTC

Are the ads static or appear in a way that would make them recognized easily so that a uBlock Origin rules remove them?