OpenAI COO says ChatGPT ads will be “an iterative process”

At a recent AI summit in India, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, discussed how the company is approaching ads for its ChatGPT product. According to TechCrunch, he described the plan as “an iterative process,” meaning the company will introduce and adjust ads gradually over time rather than launch a fully formed advertising platform all at once.

He explained that ads in ChatGPT are something the company is “committed to getting right.” Lightcap highlighted two priorities that shape this approach. First, he said OpenAI wants to protect user privacy. Second, he said the goal is to maintain high user trust as the new ads are introduced. “What does that look like? It means obviously maintaining user trust at a very high level. It means getting privacy right,” he said.

Lightcap also linked this iterative approach to how ads should feel within the product. He noted that if ads are integrated thoughtfully, they can become part of the overall experience rather than a distraction. “It means really creating a delightful product experience. We think ads done right can be additive to a product experience,” he said, adding that observers should “maybe give us a few months and see how it goes.”

OpenAI has already started testing ads to some users. This initial test is limited to people using the free tier of ChatGPT and those on the company’s lower-cost Go subscription in the U.S. According to updates from Adthena, there has been a ramp-up in both the number of advertisers appearing in ChatGPT, the specific user triggers that surface ads, and where ads are positioned within responses. Adthena reported that advertisers detected so far include Best Buy, AT&T, Pottery Barn, Enterprise Holdings, Qualcomm, and Expedia Group.

Rivals question ads’ role in AI products

That emphasis on trust and privacy comes as other players in the AI space have taken opposing stances on ads. Perplexity AI, once one of the first companies to experiment with ads, recently announced it is phasing those tests out and has no current plans to bring them back. Company executives said clearly labeled ads can still erode trust in the responses users rely on.

Anthropic has publicly positioned its product, Claude, as not supporting ads. That stance was visible in a recent Super Bowl campaign that contrasted Claude’s ad-free experience with ChatGPT’s ad placements and drew industry attention. Critics have framed the debate as part of a broader discussion about how AI companies balance monetization, trust, and user experience.

However, Sam Altman responded to Anthropic’s ad campaign, calling it “dishonest.” He said, “Our most important principle for ads says that we will not do exactly this. We would never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them. We are not stupid, and we know our users would reject that.”

These industry dynamics seem to influence how OpenAI presents its ad strategy, even as it describes the rollout as gradual and based on testing. Lightcap is saying that the ChatGPT ad process will be part of an ongoing learning process for the company.