OpenAI Plans to Build $25B Ad Empire by Selling Your Secrets to Shady Brands
KEY POINTS
- •Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney estimates OpenAI could earn $25 billion annually from advertising by 2030.
- •OpenAI announced on January 2026 it would begin testing ads for free and Go ChatGPT users with clear labeling and privacy promises.
- •The company’s 2025 revenue hit $20 billion, challenging Google’s $300 billion ad giant and Meta’s $180 billion business.
Mark Mahaney from Evercore ISI slaps a $25 billion price tag on OpenAI's future ad empire, phoning it in as soon as 2030 if they actually pull it off. OpenAI, who just bragged about crushing $20 billion annual revenue in 2025, is officially turning ChatGPT into the new hotspot for ads, starting now—because your 'free' chatbot chats about salsa dancers and now might clue in sneaker brands. Sam Altman's crew promises ads won't spook you and won’t leak your juicy convos, while Google and Meta nervously eye their $300B and $180B battered-by-chatbots piggy banks. Ads pop politely at ChatGPT's footer; the long game involves conversational ads that could suck lunch money from Google's searching habits—welcome to Silicon Valley’s latest soap opera, starring your AI bestie as the sneaky salesman.
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OpenAI’s master plan: sell ads like spam emails, but this time your deepest insecurities fuel the pitch and Google just got assigned a new rival it didn’t want to fight.
Imagine explaining to your grandma that ChatGPT is now the monstrosity hawking ads like a subway panhandler with insider info on your Amazon carts.
OpenAI turning ChatGPT into an ad platform sounds like your quiet friend suddenly yelling sandwich promos mid-conversation, except the friend is a $20 billion revenue beast.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 1/20/2026 | Author: Alex Bitter
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