OpenAI is bringing ads inside ChatGPT to 31 European countries
Free and Go users in Germany, France, Italy and 28 other markets will start seeing sponsored placements. Paid plans stay ad-free.
Key points
- OpenAI will roll out ChatGPT Ads to 31 European countries next week, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria.
- Ads appear only to users on Free and Go plans; Plus and Pro subscribers (along with Enterprise) stay ad-free.
- European advertisers must go through OpenAI's sales team or agency partners at launch, with self-service Ads Manager access following later this summer.
- OpenAI began testing ChatGPT Ads in the United States in February 2025 and expanded to eight additional markets before this European rollout.
- The company says it doesn't sell customer data, keeps conversations private from advertisers, and that ads don't influence ChatGPT's answers.
OpenAI is putting sponsored placements inside ChatGPT for tens of millions more people. Next week, ChatGPT Ads arrives in 31 European countries, the company's biggest advertising rollout since it began testing the format in the United States in February.
Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Austria are all in, along with most other EU members.
Who will actually see the ads?
Only people on Free and Go plans. Anyone paying for Plus, Pro or an Enterprise account keeps an ad-free ChatGPT, according to OpenAI's announcement.
Go is OpenAI's cheapest paid tier. Free is what most people use. If you've never handed OpenAI a card, you're in the group that'll start seeing sponsored results.
OpenAI frames this as a trade: ads pay for what it calls "free and low-cost access" to its chatbot.
What will the ads look like?
Sponsored content will be "clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT's answers," the company says, and won't change the answers the model gives. Users get controls over ad personalisation too.
That last point matters in Europe. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the bloc's main privacy law, and the newer Digital Services Act both require clear labelling and meaningful user choice over tracking. OpenAI's public ads principles say it keeps conversations private from advertisers and doesn't sell customer data.
Whether regulators agree with how those promises are implemented is a separate question, and one that national data protection authorities across Germany, Italy and Ireland have already shown appetite to test. Given the privacy backlash Meta's products have triggered across Europe, OpenAI should expect similar scrutiny.
How does the ad system work for businesses?
At launch, European advertisers can't log in and buy ads themselves. They go through OpenAI's Ads Solutions team or an agency partner. Self-service via Ads Manager comes "later this summer."
Under the hood, OpenAI has been building the tools advertisers expect from established platforms:
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| CPM and CPC bidding | Pay per thousand views or per click |
| Conversion optimisation | Bid toward sales or sign-ups, not just clicks |
| Geo-targeting and custom audiences | Reach specific regions or customer lists |
| OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API | Track what happens after the click |
OpenAI says tens of thousands of marketers have advertised on ChatGPT so far.
Why is this a big deal?
Search advertising is a massive global market, and ChatGPT is the first product at real scale where people type full sentences describing a goal rather than a few keywords. Planning a holiday, comparing accounting software, furnishing a flat: the intent is explicit before the ad even appears.
That's a richer signal than a search box. It's also, for the same reason, more sensitive. A chatbot that nudges you toward a paying advertiser's product is a different thing from one that just tries to answer your question. It's the tension OpenAI hasn't fully resolved, and it's the one worth watching.
Should you worry?
Not urgently. On the Free plan, watch for a "Sponsored" label next to results starting next week and check the ad personalisation settings in your account if you'd rather limit tracking. Paying subscribers on Plus or Pro won't notice any change.
