ChatGPT launches ads in the Czech Republic. You can get rid of them even without paying, but it comes at a cost

Free services sooner or later start to be filled with ads, and ChatGPT is no exception. OpenAI announced that on Monday, August 24, it will launch an advertising system in 31 European countries – specifically in all twenty-seven European Union states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The Czech Republic is therefore among them.

Who is affected

Ads will only be displayed to users of the free tier and the Go subscription. Those who pay for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Edu will be spared. The ad blocks themselves are designed to appear below the response, be visibly marked as sponsored, and visually separated from the rest. They will not appear in temporary conversations or in the ChatGPT Atlas browser, and accounts that the system determines belong to a person under 18 years of age are also to be excluded.

Nothing to consent to yet

Several European media outlets wrote about Monday as the start date when users would have to consent to personalization. This is not the case. OpenAI’s documentation explicitly states that personalized ads will initially not be available in the European Economic Area and Switzerland – so there is nothing to consent to. The type of ad you see will only be determined by the content of the current conversation, plus approximate location and language. Older chats, saved memories, or ad history do not factor into the selection. Consent will only become relevant in the second step, once the company adds personalization.

The switch that isn’t talked about much

And now for the crucial part that was overlooked in most reports. Ads can be removed even without paying – in the settings under “Ads controls,” you’ll find an option to switch to an ad-free version of the free tier. However, you’ll pay for it differently: with fewer messages per day and limited tools, with OpenAI specifically mentioning image generation and in-depth research.

Two caveats apply here. This is a feature of the free tier, so Go users would have to downgrade or upgrade to Plus. And be careful not to confuse it – disabling personalization is not the same thing; ads will remain, only their selection method will change.

What advertisers will learn

According to OpenAI, advertisers will only receive aggregated numbers on impressions and clicks. Conversations, history, saved memories, name, email, precise location, or IP address are reportedly not shared anywhere. Ads are not supposed to influence responses and are prohibited from appearing with sensitive topics such as physical or mental health and politics – political advertising is completely forbidden for now. Deleted ad data may remain on the company’s servers for up to 30 days. Interestingly, the system for advertisers is not yet complete: the Ads Manager interface is still marked as “coming soon” in all 31 countries, and orders will run through the sales team and partner agencies.

Would you trade fewer messages per day for an ad-free ChatGPT, or do you not mind the ad blocks below the response?

Source: Notebookcheck, OpenAI