OpenAI expands ad business, plans India rollout as it targets $100 billion revenue by decade's end

OpenAI is accelerating the expansion of its advertising business as the artificial intelligence company seeks to attract more users and support ambitious revenue targets, according to a Semafor report.Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, OpenAI's advertising chief David Dugan said advertising would play a key role in broadening access to the company's products."The revenue that we make from the ads offering is going to subsidize and grow access to information," Dugan told reporters.The move marks a significant shift for OpenAI, which had previously distanced itself from traditional advertising models. The company is now positioning advertising as a major growth engine as it works toward a reported goal of generating $100 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade.OpenAI introduced advertising on ChatGPT earlier this year for users on its free and Go subscription tiers. Ads appear within user queries and conversations, creating a new monetisation channel for the platform's growing user base.According to the report, the company already has thousands of advertisers participating across seven test markets, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. OpenAI plans to expand the programme to Brazil and Mexico in the coming weeks and eventually bring it to India.Unlike traditional display advertising, OpenAI's ad offering is designed around user intent. Dugan said advertisements are targeted based on what users are researching, when they are conducting searches and how they are interacting with the platform.While the company did not disclose revenue generated from advertising, Dugan indicated that user response has been encouraging. He said the rate at which users see an advertisement and immediately leave the platform is now "far lower" than when testing first began.The expansion comes as OpenAI continues to broaden its ambitions beyond AI chatbots and content generation tools. The company is increasingly positioning ChatGPT as a platform for search, discovery and commerce, areas long dominated by traditional internet advertising models.The report also discussed OpenAI's growing focus on creative and marketing applications. During a presentation at Cannes Lions, OpenAI Creative Specialist Chad Nelson demonstrated how AI tools could be used to build and deploy an advertising campaign with minimal technical expertise.Also read: India opens Cannes Lions 2026 with 4 metals; Sting, Colgate and Tata 1mg lead Day 1 wins