OpenAI to show ChatGPT ads in the Netherlands from next week
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By Simone Jacobs
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OpenAI has announced that ChatGPT users in Europe will be shown in-chat ads starting next week. This applies to users of the free and cheapest subscription plans.
ChatGPT ads expand to Europe
From next week, between August 24 to 30, OpenAI will show advertisements to ChatGPT users in 31 European countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Austria, the artificial intelligence company announced. The exact start date has not been specified.
OpenAI has already been testing ads in the US for six months. Since then, it has gradually expanded to other markets, including the UK, Canada, Australia and Japan. Now comes the “largest expansion to date” with the addition of European markets.
Ads will be shown to users on ChatGPT's Free and Go plans. The Go plan is the cheapest paid plan, costing 8 euros per month. Anyone who wants to avoid ads will need to upgrade to the 23-euro Plus subscription or the Pro plan, starting from 103 euros per month.
Ads personalised to ChatGPT chat history
Because the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation requires companies to get prior consent from users to show targeted ads online, OpenAI plans to personalise advertisements based on the current ChatGPT conversation, location, device type, time of day, and language, allowing the company to skirt the need for consent, reports Telecompaper.
However, an option for targeted ads will be added later, which users will be able to enable or disable as they wish. Despite the introduction of ads on the platform, OpenAI maintains that this will not influence the answers given in a chat.
“Guided by OpenAI’s ads principles, we keep conversations private from advertisers and never sell customer data,” wrote OpenAI. “Ads in ChatGPT are always clearly labelled and separate from ChatGPT’s answers, and advertising does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides.”
In an example seen on the OpenAI website, if a user asks “What should I consider when buying a coffee machine?”, an answer would be given, followed by a clearly marked ad box advertising a coffee machine.
Majority of ChatGPT users use free version
According to Trouw, around 900 million people worldwide use ChatGPT weekly. Only 50 million of these users have paid plans, and 9 million are business customers. This means that most people use the free version of the AI model. With a projected loss of 14 billion euros for 2026, OpenAI is trying to mitigate financial losses by introducing ads.
Another AI company, Anthropic, which operates Claude, is not planning on introducing chat-based ads. The appearance of advertisements in these contexts “would feel incongruous and in many cases, inappropriate,” the company writes on its website.
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Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training.Read more