OpenAI is taking the next step in its advertising strategy with a new visual ad format for ChatGPT, along with a broader set of tools designed to help advertisers measure campaign performance.
The company announced the changes on October 5, saying the new format will give brands more ways to showcase products and services visually while helping businesses understand how advertising on ChatGPT contributes to real-world outcomes.
The announcement comes as OpenAI continues building ChatGPT into a major advertising platform. The company says ChatGPT now reaches 1.2 billion people each week, creating a potentially significant channel for businesses looking to connect with consumers while they research, compare products and make decisions.
ChatGPT Is Getting a New Visual Ad Format
The biggest change is a new image-based advertising format.
Instead of relying only on traditional text-based advertising, OpenAI wants brands to use visuals to show how their products or services could fit into a user’s life. The company says these ads could showcase product inspiration, demonstrate how something is used or highlight an experience associated with a particular service.
OpenAI will initially test the format inside ChatGPT’s image-generation experience.
The company says the advertisements will be clearly labeled and kept separate from the image a user is asking ChatGPT to create. In other words, the sponsored material won’t become part of the AI-generated image itself.
Testing is scheduled to begin later in October in the United States, initially with a limited group of advertisers.
This could make ChatGPT advertising feel noticeably different from advertising on conventional websites. Rather than simply appearing alongside an article or search result, the ads are designed around the conversational and visual nature of AI.
OpenAI Says Ads Will Not Change ChatGPT’s Answers
One of the most important points in OpenAI’s announcement is that advertising is supposed to remain separate from ChatGPT’s answers.
OpenAI says advertisements do not influence the answers ChatGPT provides. The company has also repeatedly stated that advertisers do not get access to users’ private conversations.
OpenAI’s current advertising documentation says ads are selected using signals such as the context and intent of a conversation, along with other advertising-related signals when personalization is enabled. However, the sponsored content remains visually separated from ChatGPT’s response.
For users, that separation will be particularly important as advertising becomes more deeply integrated into an AI interface.
More Tools for Measuring ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI is also expanding the business side of ChatGPT Ads.
The company has announced integrations with Hightouch, Tealium and LiveRamp, allowing advertisers to connect conversion data from their existing systems with ChatGPT Ads.
OpenAI is also working with a growing list of attribution and measurement companies, including:
- AppsFlyer
- Triple Whale
- Adjust
- DV Rockerbox
- Northbeam
- Branch
- Singular
- Kochava
- Airbridge
- Tenjin
The company is additionally working with measurement providers such as Fospha, Measured and INCRMNTAL to better understand advertising performance beyond simple clicks.
This is important because people don’t always click an advertisement immediately before making a purchase. Someone may see an ad, continue researching, return later and eventually buy the product.
OpenAI is therefore expanding measurement to include areas such as conversion attribution, view-through conversions and incrementality.
Early Results Show Potential
OpenAI has shared several early results from advertising partners.
According to DV Rockerbox, WeightWatchers recorded an attributed cost per acquisition on ChatGPT Ads that was 15.3% lower than its blended paid-search benchmark.
OpenAI also says WorkMagic found a statistically significant lift for wellness brand Dose, with 67% of incremental purchases coming from new customers. Triple Whale reported that 93% of Portland Leather visitors coming from ChatGPT Ads were new visitors.
These figures come from partner measurement and should be viewed as early campaign results rather than proof that ChatGPT Ads will deliver the same performance for every advertiser.
Still, they highlight why OpenAI is investing heavily in measurement as the advertising platform grows.
Measuring More Than the Last Click
OpenAI says its advertising system is designed to account for the fact that a user’s journey may not end with an immediate click.
The company’s early analysis found that 52.7% of eligible one-day view-through conversions in globally optimized campaigns occurred within one hour of the matched ad impression.
OpenAI is also exploring incrementality testing, which attempts to determine whether advertising actually caused additional purchases rather than simply receiving credit for conversions that would have happened anyway.
This could become especially important for ChatGPT because users often use the platform to research a decision over several steps instead of performing a single search and clicking the first result.
Stronger Brand Safety Controls
OpenAI is also putting more emphasis on where advertisements appear.
The company says its advertising policies and placement safeguards are designed to prevent ads from appearing in sensitive, emotionally vulnerable or otherwise unsuitable conversations. OpenAI says automated review, human oversight and ongoing monitoring are used to enforce these protections.
Qualifying advertisers can also use Negative Phrases to specify certain contexts where they do not want their advertisements displayed.
OpenAI is working with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS) on early brand-suitability evaluation programs. The goal is to give advertisers more confidence about the environments in which their campaigns appear without giving those partners access to private conversations.
What This Means for ChatGPT Users
For users, the most visible change will likely be the gradual arrival of more sophisticated advertising formats.
The initial visual advertising test is limited to the US and will begin later this month with a select group of advertisers. It will not immediately mean that every ChatGPT user will see image-based advertisements.
OpenAI has already been expanding ChatGPT Ads into additional markets and has said advertising is intended to support broader access to free and lower-cost versions of ChatGPT. Ads currently remain restricted to eligible tiers, while Plus and Pro users are among the plans that remain ad-free.
The larger shift, however, is strategic. OpenAI is moving beyond simply placing ads inside ChatGPT and is building a complete advertising ecosystem around conversational discovery, product research, attribution and measurement.
ChatGPT Ads: Key Changes at a Glance
| Feature | What OpenAI is introducing |
| Visual ads | Image-based advertising format |
| Initial placement | ChatGPT image-generation experience |
| First market | United States |
| Testing | Later October 2026 |
| Advertisers | Initial limited group |
| Measurement | Expanded attribution and conversion tools |
| Partners | AppsFlyer, Triple Whale, Adjust, LiveRamp and others |
| Brand safety | New evaluation and placement safeguards |
| AI responses | Remain separate from advertising |
The Bigger Picture
OpenAI’s latest advertising update shows how quickly AI platforms are developing their own advertising models.
Traditional search advertising is built around keywords and webpages. ChatGPT operates differently because users describe goals, ask follow-up questions and make decisions through conversation.
That gives OpenAI an opportunity to build advertising around intent and context, rather than relying exclusively on search queries.
The challenge will be maintaining the trust that makes people comfortable using ChatGPT for personal, professional and sensitive questions. OpenAI says its approach will keep conversations private, keep ads clearly identified and preserve the independence of ChatGPT’s answers.
For advertisers, meanwhile, the combination of visual formats, conversion measurement and brand-safety tools could make ChatGPT a more mature advertising platform.
The new visual format is only the beginning. OpenAI says it plans to continue expanding ChatGPT Ads with additional formats, capabilities and measurement options as the platform evolves.
