OpenAI has launched ads on ChatGPT in India for logged-in adults on Free and Go plans. Here's how the ads work, who will see them, privacy rules, ad-free plans and upcoming advertising costs.
OpenAI has officially brought advertising to ChatGPT in India, marking a significant change in how users of the popular chatbot will experience the service.
The advertising rollout began on August 27, 2026, and initially applies to logged-in adults using the Free and Go plans.
For many Indian users, this means an advertisement may now appear underneath a ChatGPT response when the system determines that a sponsored product or service is relevant to the conversation.
OpenAI says these advertisements will remain separate from the actual ChatGPT response and will be clearly marked as sponsored.
The advertising program specifically targets a subset of the platform's user base in India.
Ads will appear only to logged-in adults using the Free and lower-priced Go tiers, priced at ₹399 per month.
Premium and institutional subscriptions, including Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education, will remain entirely ad-free.
OpenAI has integrated advertisements with a heavy focus on user trust, context and privacy.
Ads appear as clearly labelled 'sponsored' cards placed before or after ChatGPT's responses, or as native conversational product recommendations.
For example, if a user asks ChatGPT for recipes or meal prep ideas, this might trigger a sponsored card from a grocery delivery service or meal kit brand, showing the required ingredients with a direct link to buy them.
OpenAI has explicitly stated that answer independence is non-negotiable. ChatGPT's core text answers are not influenced or altered by third-party product placements.
After signing up, businesses will be taken to Ads Manager, where they can create their account, set up campaigns and access step-by-step resources through the Help Center.
Create your campaign: Set up the campaign by choosing your goal and budget.
Add ad details: Advertisers can either create their ad directly in the tool or bulk upload ad details.
Launch and learn: Once the campaign goes live, businesses can measure results, edit campaigns and optimise performance based on the results.
OpenAI says advertisers will not receive users' conversations, chat histories, memories or personal details.
Instead, advertisers receive aggregated information such as overall impressions and clicks to understand how their advertisements performed.
OpenAI also says that it does not sell users' data to advertisers.
According to reporting on the Indian launch, advertisements will not be shown alongside certain sensitive or regulated subjects, including politics and mental health.
The company also said the ads are not intended for accounts belonging to users under 18.
These restrictions matter because conversations with ChatGPT can cover highly personal or sensitive matters.
The rollout opens a new medium for businesses looking to target high-intent conversational queries.
OpenAI launched with over 50 major brands going live immediately, choosing WPP and Omnicom as its initial non-exclusive agency partners in India.
On September 04, 2026, OpenAI will launch its self-serve OpenAI Ads Manager in India.
This will allow smaller businesses and indie marketers to bid directly for ad impressions.
For the self-serve platform, daily campaign budgets will start as low as ₹725.
However, early-access premium placements during the initial rollout phase command higher rates, with estimated CPMs (cost per 1,000 views) around ₹5,000.
The success of ChatGPT's advertising model in India will depend on one thing: whether OpenAI can make advertising useful to businesses without making the service feel like a traditional advertising platform.
