OpenAI launches image ad format in ChatGPT, expands ad measurement

On October 5, 2026, OpenAI rolled out a new image-based ad format in ChatGPT, expanded the measurement tools and partner ecosystem behind ChatGPT Ads, and said it is developing brand suitability evaluation pilots with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science. In the same announcement, OpenAI said the platform reaches 1.2 billion people each week. According to Unite.AI, the new format uses images to show product inspiration, product usage, or the experiences a product makes possible.

Later that day, Techmeme, citing a BleepingComputer report, said OpenAI will begin testing that new visual ad format in the US later this month, displaying clearly labeled visual ads while users are generating images. That report framed image-generation ads as one of the first new formats in OpenAI's broader expansion of advertising inside ChatGPT, and noted that the ads carry explicit labels.

The two accounts differ on timing. The first says the new format was introduced on October 5, 2026; the second says the US test starts later this month. Taken together, the material shows that OpenAI has announced both the new ad format and the expanded measurement tools and partner ecosystem, while the US test of the visual format is described as upcoming rather than already under way. Neither report gave an exact start date for the US test, and neither said whether the format will reach markets beyond the US.