Advertising at ChatGPT: In the end, money always wins

The AI ​​bubble is constantly growing until it bursts. The only question is: When will that happen? The problem: Countless AI companies with billion-dollar valuations lack a viable business model. What will remain in the end? Fewer AI companies, and perhaps advertising on ChatGPT and the like.

Background:

• OpenAI : the company behind the most popular AI application ChatGPT expects annual revenue of $125 billion by 2029. However, the road to that goal is rocky: Estimated annual revenue for 2025 is just $10 billion. Furthermore , OpenAI has been operating at a complete loss so far. In 2024, the company reported a loss of around $5 billion .
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also aware of the problem. At the launch of GPT-5 in early August 2025 , he stated that ChatGPT now has 700 million weekly active users. The catch : Only five million people currently have a paid subscription , which is why Altman is urgently seeking new corporate customers and new payment features to bring money into the cash-strapped coffers.
• The solution is obvious: advertising in ChatGPT . In an exclusive, representative survey, the trade magazine Horizon , with the help of pollsters at YouGov, found that 31 percent of Germans surveyed are okay with advertising if the AI ​​applications are free. Another 40 percent make their consent dependent on how intrusive the ads are.

Classification:

• One thing is certain: In the AI ​​world, there is already a gaping gap between the billion dollar valuations of countless AI companies such as Perplexity, OpenAI, Safe Superintelligence, 0G Labs, Magic or Skild AI and the lack of ideas and opportunities for refinancing .
• A look beyond the horizon and into the past shows that every technology product, no matter how good and innovative it was initially promoted for its ad-free nature , was sooner or later monetized in the vast majority of cases, with advertising. Want a few examples? Instagram Stories, the TikTok feed, or BeReal. It doesn’t work without money. Period.
• In addition to consolidation in the AI ​​industry, it is therefore firmly assumed that more and more free AI applications will only remain free in the future if we, as users, accept advertising  just like with social networks, apps, and media companies. Since initial internal rumors have already surfaced that ChatGPT is considering refinancing through advertising sales, it can be assumed that we will see the first cautious advertising experiments by 2026 at the latest. Here’s to the creativity of the tech companies.

Voices:

• In mid-June 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the first podcast episode of the company’s own format (starting at minute 16:20) : “We haven’t built an advertising product yet. I’m not completely against it. I can give examples where I like advertising. I actually think advertising on Instagram is cool—I’ve bought a lot of things there. But I think it would be very difficult. you’d have to be really careful about it to do it right.”
• Nick Turley , Chief Product Officer at OpenAI, is co-responsible for the ongoing development of ChatGPT. In an interview , he said that he’s “humble enough not to categorically rule it out.” He adds that advertising on ChatGPT must be “very thoughtful and tasteful.”
• German business journalist Frank Puscher warns in an article on Media about the monetization of ChatGPT: “Users expect neutral and trustworthy statements that are not distorted by commercial interests. If OpenAI succeeds in a tasteful integration, ChatGPT could become serious competition for Google in the advertising market.”

Outlook:

We can assume that there will soon be a ChatGPT with advertising otherwise, OpenAI as a company would sooner or later either go bankrupt or be a takeover target. Because without revenue, even the best AI product won’t be able to raise infinite amounts of money from investors.

The process is always the same: an excellent, free product to generate awareness like Spotify, Netflix, or even Facebook and then the choice: free use with advertising or paid use without advertising. Advertising as a means of extortion essentially. A few exceptions, like Adobe and Microsoft, demonstrate that it’s possible to switch from one-time purchases to subscription models. This isn’t an option for the vast majority of average consumers with ChatGPT and the like.

Thus, we’re taking another turn on the free-to-use culture carousel on the internet. As long as companies don’t join forces to banish the learned free mentality from users’ minds, we users will have to put up with advertising. Or we need a visionary to rethink the whole thing.