OpenAI is expanding ads in ChatGPT to 26 more countries, bringing the total to 89, the company announced on October 21. The launch adds 14 markets in Latin America, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, and new markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, including Ukraine, Nigeria, South Africa, Serbia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It follows earlier expansions in Europe, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. OpenAI says more than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT every week.
Who sees ads
Ads appear only for users on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro and Enterprise stay ad-free. OpenAI says ads are clearly labeled and kept separate from ChatGPT's answers, that advertising does not influence those answers, and that it keeps conversations private from advertisers and does not sell customer data.
OpenAI says more than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns. In the new markets they can buy through technology partners or on their own in OpenAI's Ads Manager. The Next Web, citing CNBC, reports that the ads business reached an annualized $1 billion in August. OpenAI says the next steps are new ad formats, campaign goals, buying options and measurement.
Also new: Locked Chats
On October 20 OpenAI began rolling out Locked Chats, according to TechCrunch. You can move a sensitive conversation into a separate section, hidden from regular history, pinned chats and search, and open it with a four-digit PIN or with Face ID or Touch ID on supported devices. With Memory on, locked chats have their own memory that does not carry over into normal chats. The feature is on the Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, but not on ChatGPT for Healthcare.
OpenAI is clear about the limits. Locking does not add end-to-end encryption, does not change how long chats are kept or the "Improve the model for everyone" setting, and does not erase what ChatGPT remembered before the chat was locked. Resetting the PIN permanently deletes every locked chat. Temporary, archived, group and shared-link chats cannot be locked.
What this means if you use ChatGPT
If you use the free plan in Ukraine or another new market, expect labeled ads. Go ($8 a month) still shows them; the cheapest ad-free plan is Plus at $20 a month. Our ChatGPT card lists the current plans.
If an assistant without ads matters to you, compare the plans side by side: ChatGPT vs Claude.
If you share a phone or laptop, Locked Chats keeps conversations away from people around you. It does not change how OpenAI stores the data.