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OpenAI said its ChatGPT advertising business has reached a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate in less than 200 days, marking a rapid expansion of a new revenue stream as the artificial intelligence company prepares for a potential initial public offering (IPO).
The company said ChatGPT Ads is now used by tens of thousands of advertisers in more than 40 countries. It is also expanding its self-service Ads Manager to advertisers in India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, allowing businesses to purchase ads directly through the platform.
OpenAI said small and medium-sized businesses account for a material share of its advertising business. Ads currently appear to users of ChatGPT’s free and lower-cost Go plans, helping support access to the service.
The rapid growth comes as OpenAI seeks to diversify its revenue beyond consumer subscriptions. Its business model also includes enterprise services and usage-based API offerings.
The company, however, faces strong competition in the digital advertising market from Alphabet’s Google and Meta, which dominate the industry.
OpenAI has reportedly set a target of $2.5 billion in advertising revenue for 2026, meaning it will need to accelerate growth substantially during the remainder of the year to reach that goal.
The company said its advertising expansion is designed to help keep ChatGPT available to more than 1 billion weekly active users, while maintaining a separation between advertisements and ChatGPT’s answers. OpenAI also says advertisers do not have access to users’ private conversations.
