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OpenAI has recently launched the ChatGPT Images 2.5 image generation model and the ChatGPT Live voice feature. According to a report by The Information on September 10, OpenAI has quietly updated its advertising policy, prohibiting competitors from placing advertisements for specific categories of generative AI products within the ChatGPT platform, especially commercial advertisements for image and audio generation tools.
OpenAI has informed some business partners that it will no longer accept ad campaigns for products solely focused on image generation and voice generation. This new regulation was not previously disclosed and has not yet been updated on OpenAI's official advertising policy page.
Video ads are still allowed, but natural traffic for third-party image tools is also cut off
Doug Wyatt, Senior Director of Americas Media at Adobe, confirmed this news. Adobe had participated in an advertising pilot project with OpenAI earlier this year, promoting its Acrobat Studio and proprietary Firefly AI image generator within the ChatGPT platform.
Notably, this policy adjustment is not symmetric—OpenAI still allows competitors to run ads for video generation tools. Meanwhile, OpenAI has also adjusted the discovery mechanism of ChatGPT: for operational image queries such as those involving image editors and image generators, ChatGPT has stopped returning external referral links. This means that third-party developers have lost both organic traffic and paid promotion as customer acquisition channels.
The advertising business has exceeded $1 billion annually within less than 200 days
Public reports show that ChatGPT started advertising tests in the United States in February 2026, initially showing ads only to free users and low-cost subscription users. Within less than 200 days of launching its advertising business, ChatGPT's annualized revenue has exceeded $1 billion (approximately 6.728 billion Chinese yuan). The company had previously set ambitious advertising growth expectations for investors, with an internal target of $2.5 billion (approximately 16.821 billion Chinese yuan) in total advertising revenue for 2026.