OpenAI is bringing advertising into ChatGPT for users in India on its Free and Go subscription tiers. The change marks a significant step for a product that has built a large audience in the country, including many people using the no-cost or lower-priced versions of the AI assistant.
The company said on Thursday that ads will appear while users interact with ChatGPT. The move follows a terms of service update earlier this month that signaled ads would become part of the experience.
What OpenAI is changing in India
The new advertising rollout applies to ChatGPT Free and ChatGPT Go in India. OpenAI said in February that it had more than 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users in India, and the source article notes that a large share of them are on the free or lower-priced Go tiers.
That makes India an important test case for ChatGPT Ads. Instead of limiting revenue to paid subscriptions, OpenAI is adding a way to earn from users who may not pay for higher-priced plans but still use the AI assistant regularly.
The company said on Wednesday that it will begin by showing ads for 50 brands. It has partnered with WPP and Omnicom for the rollout.
OpenAI also plans to launch an ad manager next month. The tool will let marketers create campaigns for their companies, as long as those campaigns meet a daily minimum budget of ₹725 ($7.60).
How OpenAI is pitching ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI is framing the ads around the idea that users often come to ChatGPT while they are researching, comparing options, planning work, or making decisions. That gives advertisers a chance to appear inside a conversation rather than beside a traditional feed or search results page.
“With ChatGPT Ads, businesses of every size can introduce themselves at relevant, high-context moments when decisions are beginning to take shape,” Dave Dugan, head of global ads solutions at OpenAI, said in a statement.
That positioning matters because ChatGPT is not a conventional social app or media site. Users ask questions, request recommendations, draft plans, and refine ideas. OpenAI’s ad strategy appears to be built around those moments of intent.
The daily minimum budget of ₹725 ($7.60) also suggests that OpenAI wants the ad manager to be usable by a broad range of marketers, not only large advertisers. The source article does not describe the ad formats, targeting rules, or placement details, so the exact user experience remains limited to what OpenAI has announced.
Why India is central to the rollout
OpenAI has spent significant effort growing ChatGPT in India. In August 2025, it launched a sub-$5 plan for ChatGPT Go. It also ran a limited promotion that made that tier free for a full year.
The company has promoted its products during major sports tournaments in India, including the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket leagues. More recently, it hired Uber’s India head to lead expansion efforts in the country.
Together, those moves show that India is not just another market for OpenAI. It is a country where the company has worked to lower the cost of access, grow usage, and build local momentum around ChatGPT.
Advertising fits into that strategy because it can support usage from people who are not paying for premium subscriptions. For users on Free and Go, the tradeoff is straightforward: ChatGPT remains available on lower-cost tiers, but the experience will now include ads.
Part of a wider advertising push
India is not the first market where OpenAI has introduced ads. The AI lab started showing ads to U.S. users in February and expanded the program to Europe earlier this month.
The India rollout extends that advertising model into one of ChatGPT’s largest user markets. It also arrives as OpenAI works to build and secure more revenue sources ahead of a potential IPO, expected this year or next.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI recorded revenue of $6.7 billion in the second quarter ended June 2026, up from $5.7 billion the previous quarter. The source article also cites a report from The Information last November that OpenAI was aiming to reach 220 million paying subscribers by 2030. That report said that, at that time, 35 million users paid for its Plus and Pro plans.
Those figures help explain why ads are becoming more important. Subscriptions remain a key business line, but advertising gives OpenAI another way to monetize a large user base, especially in markets where free and lower-priced tiers are widely used.
What to watch next
The next important milestone is the launch of OpenAI’s ad manager next month. That will show how the company expects marketers to buy and manage ChatGPT campaigns, at least for the initial version of the product.
For users, the main question is how ads will appear inside ChatGPT and how noticeable they will be during normal use. The source article confirms the plan to show ads on Free and Go tiers in India, but it does not provide details on frequency, labeling, or placement.
For OpenAI, the challenge is balancing monetization with the utility that made ChatGPT popular. India gives the company a large audience for that experiment, a lower-priced subscription tier already in market, and a growing advertising program that now spans the U.S., Europe, and India.