ChatGPT maker OpenAI said May 7 it will expand its ads pilot to the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico markets in the coming weeks.
The pilot was previously only available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
“We’re excited to begin expanding the ChatGPT ads pilot into additional regions following strong interest from businesses looking to reach users in a more conversational, intent-driven environment,” said David Dugan, the longtime Meta ads exec who now heads up OpenAI’s global ads solutions, in a statement.
As part of the pilot, ChatGPT users may see ads in categories like shopping, retail, or travel. However, the company said it’s using advertiser feedback as it considers how to scale its ads business.
The announcement comes just two days after OpenAI launched its network of self-service ad platforms in the U.S.
OpenAI’s ads program seems to be on a the fast track
OpenAI surged out of the gates this year to build an ads business. It said in January 2026 that it would show ads to people using its lower-priced or free tiers. Since then, it has tinkered relentlessly on its plans.
The ambitiously high minimum commitments from companies that want to test ChatGPT ads have since been lowered according to some reports. It has also extended its pilot timeline beyond its original March end date, lined up major brands and advertisers as clients, and pushed out new ad products to bring it closer to mimic the products of longtime digital ad giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon.
These new products include an ads manager, which it began testing in March, and which lets advertisers track whether ads led to conversions—allowing buyers to prioritize actions taken by audiences as opposed to simple ad exposure. That could better position OpenAI as a performance marketing player capable of competing for budgets against the tech giants.
In late April, OpenAI updated its privacy policy to share more user data with advertisers and adtech partners, and built out its adtech partner ecosystem, so brands can buy ChatGPT ads through companies like StackAdapt, Kargo, and Pacvue.
The stakes are huge for OpenAI’s burgeoning ads business
OpenAI desperately needs revenue, as AI’s ability to process incoming requests becomes more in demand, and more expensive. The company has already made $600 billion in commitments on infrastructure by 2030—a recalibration of an earlier figure that had those commits at $1.4 trillion.
But it’s unclear if ad revenue, even coupled with subscription revenue, will be enough to keep the company sustainable and solvent.
The AI firm predicts it will make $2.5 billion in ads revenue this year, and $100 billion by 2030, according to Axios. One big challenge OpenAI faces is that, unlike Google, Amazon, and Meta, the user data it needs to power ads requires more compute to produce making it more expensive, and it’s not certain how good and how scalable that data currently is.
OpenAI is also one of the few major AI firms currently building an ads business. Perplexity was the first major AI lab to welcome advertising, launching tests in late 2024; however, it has since abandoned plans to put ads in its AI search engine as it looks to build consumer trust. Claude maker Anthropic has pledged to remain ad-free, even throwing stones at OpenAI’s embrace of ads in its Super Bowl campaign this year.
Google, for its part, told some advertisers that it plans to introduce ads into Gemini, then said it has no plans, and then declined to rule it out.
