OpenAI sets consent-based rules for ChatGPT ads ahead of EU launch this month
Under GDPR, personalized advertising counts as processing personal data, and OpenAI needs a legal basis to run it. The company chose consent, spelled out in a European Union privacy policy posted August 14, ahead of ChatGPT ads launching across the region later this month. Free and Go tier users will get advertising controls in account settings to decide whether OpenAI uses their data, including ad interaction history and purchase information from partners, to personalize the ads they see. Users who withhold consent still see ads, narrowed to their live conversation and a rough location, with chat history and memory excluded. The rollout follows launches in nine markets since February, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil.
Campaigns built on ChatGPT's ad inventory will reach a mixed audience: some users targeted with full personalization, others reached only through contextual placement tied to their current conversation. Media buyers evaluating OpenAI as a channel should expect the addressable, personalized segment to shrink as users decline consent, echoing how Meta's ad targeting narrowed after its 2023 shift to consent following a €390 million GDPR fine. Clara Westbrook of Arbor Law noted, "It almost feels like people are having to pay if they don't want to receive ads at all." Planners weighing ChatGPT alongside established platforms should treat OpenAI's early consent architecture as a signal of how targeting scale and measurement will differ from ad networks still relying on legitimate interest elsewhere in the market.