AI news · OpenAI · ChatGPT ads
ChatGPT starts showing ads while it draws your image
The visual format OpenAI announced in October has appeared for users: a labelled ad fills the wait while an image renders, then disappears once the picture is ready.
Ask ChatGPT for a picture and an ad can now fill the wait. Juozas Kaziukėnas flagged the format on X, and Search Engine Roundtable reported it on Tuesday 10 November 2026: a box headed “Here’s an ad while we create your image” shows while the picture renders and disappears once it is ready. The ad he saw was for pet food, in a chat that had nothing to do with pets.
OpenAI first described the format in October, with US trials planned that month for an initial group of advertisers, BleepingComputer reported. Advertisers can show what a service feels like, a product being used or ideas to inspire a purchase. Each ad carries a label and sits apart from the picture ChatGPT is drawing. OpenAI also added ways to check whether an ad led to a sale: purchase data can flow in through LiveRamp, Tealium or Hightouch, and partners such as Triple Whale, Adjust and AppsFlyer credit the sale to an ad. Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify check that ads stay away from unsuitable conversations. OpenAI says the independent partners checking its safeguards do not get access to users’ conversations.
Neither source says how ChatGPT chooses which ad fills the wait.
On our ChatGPT page, checked on 10 November, both the Free and Go plans include image creation, and the Go card says that plan may include ads.
The one sighting so far paired a pet food ad with a chat that had nothing to do with pets, so an advertiser has no evidence yet that this slot follows the conversation’s topic.
Sources
- Search Engine Roundtable: ChatGPT Ads While It Creates Your Image Live. Checked
- BleepingComputer: OpenAI will show visual ads in ChatGPT while you generate images. Checked
Alexandre S.
Alexandre S. is a creative ad strategist and copywriter with ten years' experience in digital marketing across multiple channels.
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