What happens when the world's most popular AI chatbot starts selling ad space? This comedy skit imagines the pitch meeting, where a skeptical employee pushes back on putting ads in ChatGPT and the monetization lead insists everything is relevant, labeled and under control, right up until a "Sponsored" sticker lands on a cup of coffee. The joke sits on top of a real business. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. on Feb. 9, 2026, for logged-in adults on its Free and Go tiers. The company says ads can appear below the end of a response, carry a sponsored label and stay visually apart from the answer itself. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts remain ad-free, and users identified as under 18 do not see ads. The money is real, too. On Aug. 31, OpenAI said its ad business had reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days after launch, with tens of thousands of advertisers using the platform. When it added Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, ...