OpenAI has begun a new phase in ChatGBT's business model with the expansion of advertising into markets outside the United States, a move that includes the Middle East and North Africa, along with India and Europe.
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At the end of August this year, the company announced that ChatGBT ads were available in more than 40 countries, and that tens of thousands of advertisers were using the platform, which had reached an annual revenue rate of $1 billion in less than 200 days since its launch.
Why do ads enter GPT chat?
The move is economically linked to the cost of running AI models and the infrastructure needed to provide the service on a large scale. OpenAI says that advertising is one of the pillars of its business model, along with consumer subscriptions, business-oriented services, and paid APIs. This model allows the company to provide a free version of ChatGBT to a larger number of users while creating an additional revenue stream from advertisers.
The ads within ChatGBT differ from traditional search engine ads in terms of context, as they come within a conversational experience where the user is searching, comparing, or making a decision. OpenAI explains that the advertising system uses the context of the current conversation to display a relevant ad, and may use – depending on the country and user settings – a broader context than the user experience on ChatGBT.
How will the ads appear to the user?
According to OpenAI's policies, ads appear separately and clearly displayed from ChatGBT's responses, and are marked as paid content. The company emphasizes that advertisers cannot modify the form's responses or influence their ranking, meaning the ad remains a separate layer from the response generation process itself.
The ads primarily target users of the free plans and ChatGBT Go, while higher paid plans, such as Plus and Pro, remain outside the advertising experience according to OpenAI's stated policies. This model aims to strike a balance between providing a broad free service and generating revenue from users who do not pay a subscription.
Egypt enters the GBT chat ads map
Egypt is considered one of the most prominent Arab markets that have entered into the new expansion of the advertising platform. According to information related to the availability of the service at the country level, Egypt has become one of the new markets in the Middle East and North Africa in which registered companies can access the ChatGBT advertising system, along with countries such as Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Tunisia .
This does not necessarily mean that every Egyptian user will see an ad in every conversation, as the appearance of ads is related to account eligibility, plan type, ad availability, and appropriate context.
But Egypt’s entry into the system opens the door for local companies and brands to reach an audience that uses artificial intelligence to search for products, services, and information and make purchasing decisions.
Most importantly, this step could change the way digital advertising works in the Egyptian market. Instead of targeting users based solely on keywords, advertising within GBT chat can appear in the context of a conversation where the user explains their needs, budget, and preferences. This gives advertisers a new channel to reach the consumer at an advanced stage of the decision-making journey.
Protecting privacy, ensuring transparency, and separating advertising content from AI responses remain key challenges as the service expands.
Protecting privacy, transparency, and separating advertising content from AI responses remain key challenge.
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