ChatGPT maker OpenAI expects to generate US$2.5-billion in advertising revenue this year, with projections to reach US$100-billion by 2030, Axios reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with recent presentations to investors.
The company has told investors to expect ad revenue to surge to US$11-billion in 2027, US$25-billion in 2028 and US$53-billion by 2029, based on the assumption that OpenAI’s products will reach 2.75 billion weekly users by 2030, the report added.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the Axios report.
OpenAI said in January it would start showing ads in ChatGPT to some U.S. users, looking to boost overall revenue growth to help fund soaring costs of developing its AI technology.
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The ads were to be tested with users on ChatGPT’s free tier and the lower-priced Go plan.
Late last month, an OpenAI spokesperson said ChatGPT’s ads pilot in the U.S. crossed US$100-million in annualized revenue within six weeks of its launch.
The company had expanded to over 600 advertisers at the time.
OpenAI is making efforts to grab market share in the ad industry, dominated by Alphabet’s GOOGL-Q Google and Facebook parent Meta META-Q. For context, Google’s ad business generated US$294.69-billion in 2025 revenue, while Meta reported 2025 ad revenue of US$196.18-billion.
Although analysts have said displaying ads in ChatGPT could irk some users and hurt trust, OpenAI reports no impact on consumer trust metrics and has observed low dismissal rates of ads.