OpenAI turns on ChatGPT ad tracking by default for free users

This is OpenAI quietly admitting that the economics of free, frontier‑scale AI don’t work without advertising. Turning on marketing cookies by default for hundreds of millions of free ChatGPT accounts turns that user base into programmatic ad inventory, giving OpenAI a second major revenue line alongside subscriptions and API usage. For a lab burning billions on data centers and custom silicon, $2–3 billion in annual ad revenue can fund another generation of models without immediately hiking prices.([winbuzzer.com](https://winbuzzer.com/2026/05/03/chatgpt-tracks-free-users-ads-default-openai-revenue-xcxwbn/))

For the race to AGI, that matters because capital ultimately sets the pace. If OpenAI can sustain extremely compute‑hungry research while keeping a mass‑market free tier, it keeps its data flywheel spinning and its brand embedded in everyday workflows, reinforcing its position against Anthropic, Google and xAI. The flip side is regulatory and reputational risk. Default‑on tracking will invite scrutiny under California’s CPRA, Europe’s GDPR and emerging Latin American privacy regimes, all of which treat cross‑context behavioral advertising as sensitive. If regulators force a true opt‑in regime, the economics change again. But if OpenAI threads the needle, this is the clearest sign yet that big‑tech style ad models are coming to foundation models—and the labs that master both model quality and monetization will have the longest financial runway in the AGI race.([wired.com](https://www.wired.com/story/openai-enables-cookies-by-default-for-free-chatgpt-users/?utm_source=openai))