ChatGPT Adds Product Ads to Image Loading Screen

OpenAI is turning the dead air in ChatGPT's image generator into ad space. Starting later this month, US users who ask the chatbot to make an image will see a product carousel pop up in the loading screen while they wait, pitched to an initial group of advertisers before any wider rollout. The ads carry a label marking them as advertising and stay visually separate from whatever image the user actually requested, with the format built around showing products in use rather than static banners.

The test lands alongside a broader push to build out the ad infrastructure behind ChatGPT. OpenAI is adding ways for advertisers to track conversions, measure real-world impact, and vet where their ads show up, all while limiting direct access to user conversations. It's the kind of plumbing that turns a chatbot feature into an ad business with reporting and accountability baked in. OpenAI has already been selling ads inside ChatGPT since February, rolling the program out across dozens of countries, and the company has set a number it wants to hit by the end of the decade that puts this image-loading test in a much bigger financial context.