OpenAI Says ChatGPT Ads Hit $1 Billion Annualized Revenue Run Rate, Expanding Globally

OpenAI announced on August 31 that its advertising business, ChatGPT Ads, has reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate and is now expanding globally.

The announcement, titled “A milestone in expanding access to AI,” ties the commercial progress directly to the company's mission: supporting broader access to AI through free and affordable options.

The company positions advertising revenue as a key funding source for free and low-cost AI services, and the global expansion means more users in more markets will encounter ChatGPT's free experience without paying for a subscription first.

The $1 billion annualized run rate means advertising is becoming a substantive revenue line for OpenAI alongside subscriptions, marking a new stage in its commercialization.

For the industry, the milestone validates advertising as a viable monetization path for large language model products and offers a new reference point for the “free model plus ads” business model.

What to watch next: the pace of the global ad rollout, how advertising shapes the free user experience, and whether this revenue scale can keep growing in the coming quarters.