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Although OpenAI executives have repeatedly stated that their flagship product, ChatGPT, is not currently running any ads or ad tests, the company has recently been embroiled in controversy after paid users complained about seeing promotional messages from companies like Peloton and Target. In response, OpenAI's Chief Research Officer **Mark Chen (Chen)** had to step forward to admit that the company's recent promotional messages "were not done well" and promised to work on improving the user experience.
This controversy originated from feedback from paid ChatGPT subscribers, who questioned why commercial promotions would appear in a clean AI chat interface. OpenAI responded by stating that they were simply testing how to display applications built on the ChatGPT app platform launched last October, and emphasized that these recommendations "do not involve any financial interests." However, a user who initially raised the complaint expressed doubt, sarcastically saying: "Bro... don't insult your paying customers."
In response to growing user confusion and rumors about "ads," ChatGPT head Nick Turley posted on Friday to clarify. He firmly denied: "There are no real-time tests for ads at the moment—you see any screenshots either fake or not ads." Turley promised that if OpenAI considers placing ads in the future, it will take a "cautious approach" and respect the trust users place in ChatGPT.
However, just hours before Turley's post, Mark Chen responded to the controversy with a more apologetic tone, acknowledging that this was not just a matter of user confusion. Chen wrote: "I agree that any content that feels like an advertisement needs to be handled with caution, and we did not do well enough in this area." He revealed that the company had already disabled such recommendations during the process of improving model accuracy and was researching better user control options to allow users to lower or disable these recommendations deemed "not helpful."
Notably, during the controversy, OpenAI's commercialization efforts were facing internal adjustments. Earlier this year, former Instacart and Facebook executive **Fidji Sumo (Fidji Sumo)** joined OpenAI as CEO of the application division, and the public generally expected her to oversee the company's advertising business. However, a memo from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (Sam Altman) this week announced a "red alert