ChatGPT image generation ads are coming: OpenAI said on October 5, 2026 that it will test a new visual ad format “during image generation in ChatGPT”, starting later this month in the US with a first group of advertisers. If you make images on a Free or Go account, a labeled ad may appear while your picture is being created.
On this page
What OpenAI announced
In its post Building advertising for the way people use AI, OpenAI describes a visual ad format built from images that show “product inspiration, product usage, or the experiences they make possible”. It will be tested first in image generation. OpenAI says the ads “will be clearly labeled, and remain separate from the image being created”, and that advertising “does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides”.
The rest of the announcement is for advertisers: new measurement partners and brand-safety pilots. For people who make images, the change is where ads show up: the test puts them into the wait while an image renders.
Who will see the new ads
The test is in the US. OpenAI’s help article Ads in ChatGPT sets out who sees ads at all:
| Account | Ads |
|---|---|
| Free and Go | May see ads where the ads test runs |
| Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Edu | No ads |
| Accounts identified as under 18 | No ads |
What each plan allows for images is on our ChatGPT Free and ChatGPT Go pages.
The controls you already have
The same help article lists what Free and Go users can do, in Settings > Ad Controls:
- Hide ad to dismiss one, Report ad if it looks misleading or unsafe, and About this ad to see why it was shown.
- Turn Personalize ads off. Ads then rely on the current chat only, not your other chats, ad history or topics.
- Turn Past chats and memory off for ads, or use Temporary Chat, which OpenAI says does not use or update memory.
- Delete ads data to clear ad history and topics. OpenAI says full removal can take up to 30 days; your chats are not affected.
There is also an Ads-Free option on the Free plan, but read the trade-off first: OpenAI says it removes ads in exchange for fewer messages and “no access to some tools like image generation or deep research”. If you came to ChatGPT to make pictures, the Ads-Free option is not the way to avoid image ads; the paid plans without ads are.
What it means for your prompts
Nothing in how you write image prompts changes. OpenAI says the ad stays separate from your image, so a prompt will not pick up a sponsor’s product, and by default ChatGPT “can’t see the ads shown to you” unless you use Ask ChatGPT on an ad to share it in the chat. Our guide to ChatGPT image prompts covers OpenAI’s own prompting rules.
