OpenAI’s ChatGPT Ad Team Has Reorganized Seven Times Since February

OpenAI’s advertising group has been reorganized seven times since its U.S. test began in February, as its ChatGPT ad business reaches a $1 billion annualized revenue pace.

About 140 people work on the ad operation; nearly half joined between July and September, and Meta was the largest single-company source of hires. Dave Dugan, OpenAI’s vice president of global ad solutions, spent 12 years at Meta. “We’re hiring from a diverse range of companies across the industry, with no single company focus,” Dugan said.

OpenAI started testing ads in the United States on Feb. 9, offering them to eligible adults on the Free and Go tiers. On May 5, it began rolling out a beta Ads Manager for self-service purchases. The company added cost-per-click bidding, which charges advertisers when someone clicks an ad, and tools for measuring campaigns.

ChatGPT ads were available in more than 40 countries in August and in more than 60 by Thursday, Oct. 15. The expansion has taken the product beyond its original U.S. test market.

On Aug. 31, the ad business reached a $1 billion annualized revenue pace, with an advertiser base in the tens of thousands. An annualized pace expresses revenue over a 12-month period; it does not mean the business collected $1 billion during 2026. OpenAI has positioned advertising alongside consumer subscriptions, enterprise offerings and API usage as another source of revenue.

Advertising is kept separate from ChatGPT’s answers.