
The Thinking Behind Ads in ChatGPT - Episode 13
From OpenAI Podcast by OpenAI
February 9, 2026 · 26 min · Episode 13
About this episode
Asad Awan discusses the approach to advertising in ChatGPT, focusing on user privacy and control.
How should advertising work in an AI product? Asad Awan, one of the ad leads at OpenAI, walks through how the company is approaching this decision and why it’s testing ads in ChatGPT at all. He explains how ads are built to stay separate from the model response, keep conversations with ChatGPT private from advertisers, and give people control over their experience. Chapters 00:00:29 — Mission and principles 00:04:01 — Separation between ads and answers 00:07:31 — Who will see ads 00:08:52 — Internal input and decision-making process 00:11:06 — Controls and how ads will work 00:15:53 — Guardrails for sensitive conversations 00:17:33 — Skepticism about ads 00:20:26 — Helping small businesses 00:24:13 — Future of ads Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
People in this episode
Host: OpenAI
Guest: Asad Awan
Topics covered
- advertising
- AI products
- user privacy
- business support
- decision-making
Keywords
- advertising
- ChatGPT
- user experience
- AI
- OpenAI
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: OpenAI
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