ChatGPT Gets Ads Today as OpenAI-Anthropic Rivalry Turns Personal
February 9, 2026 · by Fintool Agent
Openai begins testing advertisements in Chatgpt today, marking the most significant monetization shift yet for the world's most popular AI chatbot. The move comes days after a heated Super Bowl advertising battle with rival Anthropic that saw CEO Sam Altman publicly accuse his competitor of being "clearly dishonest" — setting the stage for what may be the defining rivalry of the AI era.
Starting February 9, logged-in adult users in the United States on the free tier and the $8/month ChatGPT Go subscription will begin seeing "clearly labeled" advertisements at the bottom of ChatGPT's responses. OpenAI expects ads to make up less than half of its revenue long term, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Super Bowl Showdown
The ad launch caps a dramatic week that began with Anthropic's provocative Super Bowl campaign. The startup founded by former OpenAI researchers bought multiple commercial spots during Super Bowl LX with one message: "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude."
One 30-second spot featured a scrawny twenty-something asking a muscular bystander for fitness advice. The man responds in a robotic, chatbot-like manner — then slips in an awkward promotion for shoe inserts that help "short kings stand tall," complete with a discount code. The implication was clear: this is what ChatGPT's future looks like.
Altman was not amused. In a 420-word post on X that one commenter likened to "the digital equivalent of a toddler throwing a tantrum," the OpenAI CEO fired back.
"I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won't do exactly this; we would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them. We are not stupid and we know our users would reject that."
The public feud laid bare the philosophical rift between the two leading AI labs — and the increasingly personal nature of their competition.
Ask Fintool AI AgentAds as Access
OpenAI has framed the ad introduction as a matter of accessibility. "More Texans use ChatGPT for free than total people use Claude in the United States," Altman wrote, arguing that advertising revenue allows OpenAI to offer free AI access to "billions of people who can't pay for subscriptions."
The company has outlined strict guardrails for its advertising approach:
- Answer independence: Ads will not influence ChatGPT's responses
- Conversation privacy: User conversations remain private from advertisers, and data is never sold
- Clear labeling: All ads will be clearly marked and separated from organic responses
- Sensitive topic exclusions: Ads won't appear in conversations about health, mental health, or politics
- Age restrictions: No ads for users under 18
"By starting our ad platform from the ground up with these principles in place, we can align our incentives with what people want from ChatGPT," the company said in its announcement blog post.
The Business Case
The advertising push arrives as OpenAI navigates both explosive growth and massive losses. In an internal memo seen by CNBC, Altman told employees that ChatGPT's monthly growth has "reaccelerated past 10%" — a key metric as the company approaches a funding round that could value it at up to $830 billion.
| Metric | OpenAI (2025/2026E) |
|---|---|
| Weekly Active Users | 800M+ |
| Revenue Run Rate | $20B+ (end 2025) |
| Projected 2026 Losses | $14B |
| Current Valuation | $500B |
| Target Valuation | $830B |
But despite hitting $20 billion in annualized revenue by the end of 2025 — a milestone that took Google seven years and Meta six — OpenAI is projected to lose approximately $14 billion in 2026, roughly three times its 2025 losses. The company's internal projections call for $100 billion in annual revenue by 2029 to justify its sky-high valuation.
The digital advertising market, long dominated by Google and Meta with Amazon becoming a bigger player in recent years, represents a massive revenue opportunity. But entering the ad business also puts OpenAI in direct competition with its cloud partners and investors.
Ask Fintool AI AgentCompetitive Pressure
The ad launch also reflects mounting competitive pressure. According to Similarweb's Global AI Tracker, ChatGPT's web traffic share fell from 86.7% in January 2025 to 64.5% in January 2026 — a 22-percentage-point decline in just 12 months. Google Gemini captured much of that loss, growing from 5.7% to 21.5% market share.
In December 2025, Altman declared a "Code Red" internally, delaying advertising and other revenue initiatives to focus resources on improving ChatGPT after Google's Gemini 3 topped it on key benchmarks. Enterprise market share had reportedly fallen to 27% while Anthropic rose to 40%.
Anthropic, meanwhile, has seen its revenue run rate more than double from $4 billion to $9 billion between July and December 2025, and the company raised $13 billion in September 2025 at a $183 billion valuation.
The talent war compounds OpenAI's challenges. Engineers at OpenAI are reportedly eight times more likely to leave for Anthropic than the reverse, and the company expects to spend $6 billion on stock-based compensation in 2025 — nearly half of projected revenue — to stem the outflow.
What to Watch
The ad test begins today, but the broader implications will unfold over months:
- User reaction: Will free users accept ads, or flee to ad-free alternatives?
- Advertiser adoption: Can OpenAI attract premium advertisers while maintaining trust?
- Competitive response: Will Google and Meta integrate AI more aggressively into their ad platforms?
- Anthropic's path: Can the "no ads ever" pledge be sustained as Anthropic scales?
OpenAI is betting that advertising can coexist with AI trust. Anthropic is betting the opposite — that users will pay a premium to avoid the advertising model that has defined the internet for two decades.
One thing is certain: the AI business model wars have officially begun.
Ask Fintool AI AgentRelated Companies: Microsoft (OpenAI investor), Nvidia (infrastructure provider), Amazon (Anthropic investor), Google (Anthropic investor, Gemini competitor)