NCCapital

OpenAI's advertising business has reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate less than 200 days after launching, marking a major milestone for the artificial intelligence company as it works to build a broader and more sustainable business model. OpenAI announced the figure Monday, describing advertising as an increasingly important part of its diversified revenue strategy.

The rapid growth gives OpenAI another source of revenue beyond its consumer subscriptions, enterprise contracts, and usage-based API business. The company is emphasizing that mix of revenue streams as it prepares for what could become one of the largest technology IPOs ever.

ChatGPT Ads are now available in more than 40 countries, according to OpenAI. The company said tens of thousands of advertisers are already using the platform, with businesses increasingly turning to ChatGPT as a place to reach consumers while they research products, compare services, and make purchasing decisions.

OpenAI is also expanding access to its advertising platform. Self-service advertising through Ads Manager is launching across India, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, allowing more businesses to purchase advertisements without relying exclusively on OpenAI's sales teams, agencies, or technology partners.

The expansion could significantly increase the number of businesses advertising on ChatGPT. OpenAI said small and medium-sized businesses now represent a material share of its advertising business, suggesting the platform is moving beyond large corporate advertisers and becoming more accessible to smaller companies.

OpenAI's advertising model is designed around the way people use ChatGPT. Users can ask questions about products, services, travel, software, jobs, or other decisions, creating opportunities for advertisers to appear alongside those conversations. OpenAI says its advertisements are clearly labeled and kept separate from the answers generated by ChatGPT.

The company's move into advertising initially generated significant criticism, particularly from rival AI company Anthropic. Anthropic has positioned itself as an advertising-free alternative, while criticizing the idea of placing commercial messages inside AI conversations.

OpenAI has nevertheless continued expanding the business, arguing that advertising can help support free and lower-cost access to ChatGPT. The company says advertising is one part of a broader strategy designed to give users different ways to access its products while allowing OpenAI to generate revenue from its enormous user base.

The scale of ChatGPT gives OpenAI an unusually large potential advertising audience. The company says more than 1 billion people use ChatGPT each week, creating an enormous pool of potential customers for advertisers as the platform expands into shopping, research, recommendations, and other forms of decision-making.

For OpenAI, the $1 billion annualized milestone is less about the money already generated than what it could signal about the future. If advertising continues growing alongside subscriptions, enterprise sales, and API usage, OpenAI could develop a significantly more diversified revenue base—potentially strengthening its position with investors as it moves toward the public markets and competes with rivals across the rapidly expanding AI industry.