OpenAI to expand ChatGPT ads pilot to the UK in coming weeks
TL;DR:
- OpenAI updated its public post on testing ads in ChatGPT on 7 May to confirm a coming-weeks expansion to the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea, after earlier pilots in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
- Sponsored listings will appear only for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go tiers; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education tiers stay ad-free, and OpenAI says ads do not influence ChatGPT’s organic answers.
- Resultsense view: this is the moment ChatGPT crosses from research curiosity to monetised consumer surface in the UK. UK businesses already weighing search-marketing spend against AI-assistant referrals now have a measurable second auction to budget for.
OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in the US on 9 February for adult Free and Go tier users, expanded the pilot to Canada, Australia and New Zealand in late March, and has now told advertisers it will move into the UK and four other markets imminently. The company said early signals show “no impact on consumer trust metrics” and “low dismissal rates” — the justification it has given for moving to the next phase.
What the format looks like
Sponsored listings are matched to the topic of the conversation, the user’s past chats and prior ad interactions, and are shown clearly labelled and visually separated from ChatGPT’s organic answer. OpenAI says advertisers do not see chats, chat history, memories or personal details, and ads will not appear in accounts predicted to be under 18 or near sensitive categories such as health, mental health and politics. Users can dismiss ads, view their ad history, delete ad data, and toggle personalisation off.
Why the UK matters in this wave
The UK is the only English-speaking market in the new five-country expansion and the largest by GDP. UK advertisers and agencies have been preparing for AI-assistant inventory for months, and OpenAI has already opened sign-ups for businesses interested in advertising in the new markets. The UK ad-tech ecosystem will need to assess how OpenAI’s ad ranking interacts with UK consumer-protection rules and the ICO’s guidance on profiling, particularly given the personalisation signals OpenAI is using.
Looking forward
The pilot’s expansion lands as Anthropic, Google’s Gemini, and Perplexity continue to differentiate on monetisation models, and as UK media owners are watching for AI-assistant referral traffic to settle. For UK SMEs whose marketing budgets currently sit in Google Search, the question is no longer whether ChatGPT becomes an ad surface but how much of the budget should follow attention there. The pilot’s UK rollout is incremental rather than full launch — formats, objectives and buying models will evolve over the coming months as OpenAI takes feedback from this stage.