OpenAI Says Ad Business Reaches $1 Billion Run Rate

“The platform is now used by tens of thousands of advertisers and continues to expand globally,” the artificial intelligence (AI) startup announced Monday (Aug. 31). “Starting later today, advertisers can purchase ChatGPT ads directly via Ads Manager across India, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.”

OpenAI in April told investors it expected its ad business to bring in $2.5 billion in revenue this year before jumping to $100 billion by the end of the decade.

Earlier this month, OpenAI said it was on track to bring in annualized revenue of more than $40 billion, around double its run rate from the end of last year.

“The jump gives the ChatGPT maker fresh momentum as it prepares to go public,” PYMNTS wrote at the time. “For the banking, payments and FinTech firms watching how AI vendors turn usage into money, the number signals that enterprise demand for AI tools keeps climbing even as the cost of building them stays high.”

The company said Monday that its customer base for the 200-day-old ad business is becoming “increasingly global,” with advertisers outside the U.S. representing a growing percentage of revenue. Many of OpenAI’s largest customers are using ChatGPT Ads to target audiences across multiple markets.