OpenAI announces that starting at the end of August 2026, it will also display ads in the free ChatGPT plans in the European Union, the rest of the European Economic Area, and Switzerland. Affected users received the announcement on August 15, 2026, via email from OpenAI Ireland, packaged in an updated privacy policy. Paid plans starting from Plus will remain completely ad-free.
OpenAI Ireland informs via privacy email
The message was sent on August 15, 2026, at 8:29 AM from the address noreply@email.openai.com to ChatGPT accounts in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland, as reported by the specialist portal ppc.land. The subject and sender refer to an “update of the privacy policy” – the actual news, the start of advertising, is contained in the body text. Responsible is OpenAI Ireland Limited based in Dublin, the subsidiary that processes the data of all users in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. The announcement does not specify a fixed start date, only the period “later in August 2026.” It remains unclear whether accounts in Germany will see the ads this week or only shortly before the end of the month. Only the Free (free) and Go (€8 per month) tiers are affected; those using Plus (€23), Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Education will continue to see no ads. Additionally, there is a new ad-free version of the free plan, which in return has a lower daily message limit.
Ads start initially without personalization
OpenAI explains the approach in a dedicated blog post: At the start, the company will use only the current conversation topic, a rough location, and the type of device used for ad selection – previous chats and saved memories are excluded. Those who wish to receive personalized ads must consent to this; without this consent, users will only see topic-based ads. This two-step process is explained by European data protection law: The European Data Protection Board had restricted so-called consent-or-pay models in its opinion 08/2024, where users must either agree to personalized advertising or pay. For OpenAI Ireland, the Irish Data Protection Authority is the lead supervisory authority. Accounts of minors, which OpenAI recognizes through account age and behavioral patterns, as well as sensitive topics such as health, mental health, and politics, remain exempt from advertising. No ads will appear in temporary chats and in the Atlas browser. Advertisers will only receive aggregated metrics such as total views or clicks – access to individual conversations, chat history, or personal information is excluded by the company.
Rollout follows seven other countries
Europe is not the first market for advertising in ChatGPT. According to OpenAI, the test started on February 9, 2026, in the USA, followed by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the UK on June 6, 2026, as the first European market. On August 11, 2026, according to a report by Ghacks, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea were added. The EU, the rest of the EEA, and Switzerland thus follow as one of the last major regions – a delay that industry observers attribute to the stricter requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation. For the free ChatGPT plan, OpenAI had only lifted the daily message limit at the beginning of August; advertising is likely to help finance this more generous usage. Larger corporate clients arrange their services anyway through business or enterprise contracts, while for private users and small businesses with free or Go accounts, daily life with ChatGPT will visibly change: responses will now include commercial notices, even if the core function of the chatbot remains unchanged. OpenAI has not yet commented on the specific advertising revenue from the previous test phase in the USA.
It will be crucial how OpenAI balances advertising revenue with the trust of European users, who are accustomed to an ad-free ChatGPT. The company has not yet provided an exact start date for Germany and the rest of the EU – nor whether the ads will initially be shown only to a portion of the accounts, as was common in previous test phases.
