OpenAI gives ChatGPT ads more visual formats

What is new

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is building on its first ad format in the chat. Initially, the ads were short, clearly labeled text boxes at the bottom of the answer. Now advertisers are getting more visual options. According to the trade publication Digiday, which several sites cite, these include a product carousel in the style of Google Shopping. It is a row of product images you can scroll through. The format arrived in August 2026, just before the busy fall and holiday shopping season.

OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT following an announcement on January 16, 2026. The test ran for logged-in adults in the US on the free version and on the ChatGPT Go subscription. Among the first advertisers were Adobe, Audible, Ford and Target. Job postings at OpenAI have also indicated that images and video may come later. That is only a signal, however, not an official plan.

What is clever

For advertisers, it is clever because an image of a shoe or a car catches the eye better than a line of text. The carousel also makes it easy to compare several products when you ask ChatGPT for, say, gift ideas.

OpenAI also advises advertisers to supply many variants of text and images. That can get the ads shown more often and deliver better results. Ad tech company Criteo is part of the pilot project and has asked advertisers to commit $50,000 to $100,000.

For ordinary users, the point is that the ads must be clearly separated from the answer itself. OpenAI promises that ads do not influence what ChatGPT answers and that conversations are not sold to advertisers.

Cheaper or better?

For the user, the price does not change. Free and Go are the versions where you see ads. Go costs about $8 a month in the US. Plus ($20 a month), Pro ($200 a month), Business and Enterprise are ad-free. Danish prices are not stated in what I have found.

For advertisers, no official prices have been given for the new formats. No direct comparison with competitors has been found either. You can, however, see parallels to Google's shopping ads, and Perplexity has previously tried ads at high prices.

OpenAI says ads are not shown to people under 18 or on sensitive topics such as health, mental health and politics.

What it is good at

The visual ads are primarily made for retailers and brands that want to show products when people research purchases, travel or gifts in ChatGPT. For Danish users, there is no immediate difference, because the ads are so far targeted at the US. There has, however, been coverage of ads expanding to more markets, including the UK, and of OpenAI laying the groundwork for ads in the EU. No date has been found for Denmark.

If you use ChatGPT for free, you can eventually expect more images among the answers. If you want to avoid them, the solution is a paid subscription above the Go level.