ChatGPT ads to start in Europe on August 24

European users of ChatGPT's free and low-cost services will start seeing ads from August 24, OpenAI said, as the company expands advertising beyond the United States.

OpenAI said late Tuesday that advertisers would gain access to users in 31 countries across Europe. It first rolled out advertising in the United States in February.

The company said ads would be added to ChatGPT's free service and to Go subscriptions in Europe, which cost eight euros, or $9.30, a month. It said premium subscription services would remain ad-free.

OpenAI said the expansion would give marketers in Europe a way to reach people while they are “actively exploring, comparing, and making decisions”.

The company said conversations would be private from advertisers and that no customer data would be sold. It said ads in ChatGPT would be clearly labelled and separate from ChatGPT's answers, and that advertising would not influence the answers the chatbot provides.

OpenAI is seeking more revenue from its AI models as it competes with rivals including Anthropic and lower-cost Chinese models. Anthropic has made its pledge to remain ad-free part of its marketing.