OpenAI Just Built an Ad Platform Inside ChatGPT — Here's What That Changes for the 800 Million People Already Using It

Published: May 25, 2026 Impact: High — category-level monetization shift affecting 800 million free-tier users

OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads Manager launched May 21, 2026. Internal revenue target for the program, per multiple reports: $2.5 billion in year one, scaling toward $100 billion by 2029.

For context, that's roughly the entire 2025 revenue of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal combined — in year one, from a single ad surface that did not exist six months ago.