OpenAI makes Cannes Lions debut, pitches ChatGPT ads business as it challenges Google's dominance

OpenAI made its debut at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, using advertising's biggest global stage to pitch marketers on a business that could become one of its most important revenue engines: ads inside ChatGPT.The artificial intelligence company, best known for creating ChatGPT, is attending the festival for the first time as it seeks to expand beyond subscriptions and enterprise software into advertising, a market long dominated by Google and Meta.Read more: OpenAI expands ad business, plans India rollout as it targets $100 billion revenue by decade's endAlso read: Exclusive: OpenAI turns to army of creators to drive AI adoption in IndiaOccupying a prominent presence along Cannes' harbourfront, OpenAI showcased both its growing advertising business and Codex, its AI-powered coding tool, as part of a broader effort to attract brands, agencies and corporate customers. The company is positioning itself as a new kind of advertising platform, one built around conversations, intent and AI rather than traditional search queries or social feeds.Dave Dugan, the former Meta executive who now leads OpenAI's global advertising business, said the company sees advertising as a long-term strategic priority. OpenAI's pitch to marketers is that ChatGPT users often arrive with a specific task, question or purchase decision in mind, creating opportunities for brands to reach consumers at moments of high intent. According to Dugan, roughly one-fifth of ChatGPT queries carry direct commercial intent, with categories such as travel, retail, beauty, healthcare and financial services showing strong early advertiser interest.From ad-free chatbot to advertising platformOpenAI's Cannes debut comes just months after the company formally entered the advertising business.In February, OpenAI began testing advertisements inside ChatGPT for users on its Free and Go subscription tiers in the United States, marking the first time the company introduced ads into its flagship product. Sponsored placements appear separately from chatbot responses and are clearly labelled, with OpenAI maintaining that advertisements do not influence the answers generated by ChatGPT.The company has repeatedly argued that advertising can help fund broader access to AI while keeping premium subscription tiers ad-free. Ads are currently limited to Free and Go users, while Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education customers continue to receive an ad-free experience.Also read: OpenAI’s India partnerships, explainedAs part of the rollout, OpenAI has introduced a series of advertising safeguards. Ads are excluded from sensitive conversations, users under 18 are not shown advertising, and advertisers do not receive access to users' private conversations. The company has also emphasized that sponsored content remains visually distinct from AI-generated responses.In Europe, OpenAI has taken a more cautious approach. The company recently updated its advertising policies to state that personalised ads will only be shown to users who explicitly opt in, reflecting stricter privacy requirements under European regulations. Users who do not consent receive contextual rather than personalised advertising.Building a new revenue engineThe advertising push comes as OpenAI looks for additional revenue streams to offset the enormous cost of developing and operating advanced AI models.The company spent an estimated $34 billion last year, according to reports, with infrastructure and computing expenses continuing to rise faster than revenue. Advertising is increasingly emerging as a third pillar of monetisation alongside subscriptions and enterprise software.Industry reports suggest OpenAI has told investors advertising could eventually become a major business in its own right, although the company has not publicly disclosed long-term revenue targets. The ad business has expanded steadily since launch, with OpenAI rolling out advertising across multiple markets and introducing a self-serve platform that allows small and medium-sized businesses to buy campaigns directly.Reuters reported earlier this year that OpenAI's initial U.S. ad pilot surpassed $100 million in annualised revenue within weeks of launch, highlighting strong advertiser interest in conversational advertising formats. The company has also expanded its advertiser base while gradually introducing measurement and campaign management tools.Read more: OpenAI unveils ad targeting and AI creative tools, allows advertisers to upload first-party audience dataA new front in the AI warsOpenAI's move into advertising has also intensified competition with rival AI companies.Anthropic has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of advertising inside AI assistants, arguing that commercial incentives could compromise user trust and the neutrality of AI-generated responses. Earlier this year, the company used a Super Bowl campaign to mock the idea of ads appearing inside chatbot conversations, highlighting a growing philosophical divide over how AI platforms should be monetised.OpenAI, by contrast, has argued that advertising can expand access to AI tools for hundreds of millions of users while preserving the integrity of responses through clear separation between sponsored content and generated answers.Beyond advertising: Codex and enterprise AIOpenAI also used Cannes to showcase Codex, its AI-powered software development tool that can generate code and build applications from natural-language instructions.The company demonstrated how brands and marketers could use Codex to automate workflows and create tools that help users build their own campaigns. Executives stressed that the technology is intended to augment creative and marketing teams rather than replace agencies.The product forms part of OpenAI's broader effort to win more enterprise customers as competition intensifies across the AI sector.Challenging Google's discovery advantageThe Cannes showcase arrives as Google, Meta and OpenAI increasingly converge around the same opportunity: helping consumers discover products, services and information through AI-powered interfaces.Google has already begun introducing advertising opportunities inside its AI-powered search experiences, while OpenAI is betting that conversational interfaces will become a major gateway for commerce and discovery. The company's argument is that users asking ChatGPT for recommendations, comparisons and purchase advice represent a different kind of advertising opportunity—one built on intent rather than interruption.For OpenAI, Cannes was about more than showcasing a new ad product. It was a signal that the company no longer sees itself solely as an AI developer. It is increasingly positioning itself as a platform for search, commerce, software and advertising—one that hopes to capture a meaningful share of the global digital advertising market currently dominated by Google and Meta.Also read: From Kiran Mani to Irina Ghose: Indian-origin leaders in key roles across global AI firms