OpenAI CEO Sam Altman arrives for a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on July 30, 2026. Nathan Howard | ReutersOpenAI announced on Monday that its advertising business has reached $1 billion in annualized revenue, a milestone the company touts as proof of its “diversified business model.” The artificial intelligence company is preparing for what is expected to be a massive initial public offering and is under pressure to justify its $852 billion valuation to investors. OpenAI said Monday that its advertising business, which is about 200 days old, relies on its existing revenue drivers such as its enterprise offerings, consumer subscriptions and usage-based application programming interfaces. OpenAI began testing ads within its ChatGPT chatbot in the US in February, a highly anticipated and controversial decision. Digital advertising has long been the source of revenue for other big tech companies like Google and Meta, but OpenAI’s move was ridiculed by its main rival, Anthropic, which had OpenAI’s ad boost its first Super Bowl campaign. ChatGPT ads are now available in more than 40 countries, and OpenAI said it is rolling out self-service access in India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa on Monday. Ads within the chatbot appear for subscribers of OpenAI’s Go and its free tier, which makes up the vast majority of its billion weekly active users. OpenAI said Monday that its ads are clearly labeled and do not influence ChatGPT responses. Advertisers do not have access to users’ private conversations. “Our next phase of growth will bring ChatGPT Ads to more markets and introduce additional formats, targeting, buying options, and measurement capabilities,” OpenAI said in a statement. “We will also explore new ways for businesses to interact with consumers more natively on ChatGPT.” CNBC’s Kate Rooney contributed to this report. WATCH: Experts assess market’s ability to handle Anthropic and OpenAI IPO. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
