ChatGPT ads now run in 89 countries, and OpenAI explained how it picks them.

On Wednesday, Oct 21, OpenAI brought ChatGPT ads to 26 more countries, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Nigeria, South Africa, Ukraine and Pakistan, for 89 in total (OpenAI).

Ads appear only on the Free and Go plans.

OpenAI says more than 100,000 advertisers have run ads since the US launch in February, and a separate engineering post says the ads reached $1 billion in yearly revenue pace in under 200 days. That post also explains how an ad gets picked (OpenAI engineering). A separate AI model reads the conversation and works out what you might be shopping for. It searches for matching ads, filters them, and sends the best ones to an auction that sets the price. It runs apart from the model writing your answer, which doesn't wait for it. If the ad isn't ready when the answer finishes, it isn't shown. The ad system also remembers what it learns across the turns of a chat and across separate conversations.

What this means for you: if you pay for Plus or Pro, or use a Business, Enterprise or Edu account, nothing changes, because those plans stay ad-free. If you use Free or Go, OpenAI's help page on ads says that with ad personalization on, your past chats and memories can be used to pick ads.

Advertisers don't see your chats, and ads aren't shown next to health, mental health or political topics. You can turn personalization off, clear your ad data, or see why an ad appeared in Settings > Ad controls.

Temporary Chats show no ads. Free users can also switch to an ads-free mode, with fewer messages and fewer tools.