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- ChatGPT Ads Are Here. Here's How to Opt Out as a Free User 👀
ChatGPT Ads Are Here. Here's How to Opt Out as a Free User 👀
Amazon plans AI content marketplace for publishers 🛒
Gina Acosta
February 10, 2026
In partnership with
Welcome to another edition of Horizon AI,
Ads are now in ChatGPT for U.S. users. In today's issue, we share details on how the ChatGPT experience will be affected by this significant change and how you can opt out as a free user, although sadly not without a trade-off.
Let’s jump into it!
Read Time: 4.5 min
Here's what's new today in the Horizon AI
OpenAI Starts ChatGPT Ad Testing
Amazon Plans to Launch AI Content Marketplace
AI Tutorial: How free users can opt out of ChatGPT ads
AI Tools to check out
AI Findings/Resources
The Latest in AI and Tech 💡
AI News
OPENAI
OpenAI Starts ChatGPT Ad Testing
OpenAI has started testing ads in the U.S. for ChatGPT users on its lowest-cost tiers, marking a major evolution in the product's business model and user experience.
Details:
Ads are being tested for users on the Free tier and the newer Go subscription. Higher paid tiers such as Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education will remain ad free.
OpenAI says advertising will not influence ChatGPT’s answers and that conversations remain private from advertisers. Sponsored content will be clearly labeled and separated from regular responses.
Users will have controls over their ad experience, including viewing and clearing ad interaction history, dismissing ads, giving feedback, and adjusting personalization settings.
Free tier users will be able to opt out of ads entirely in exchange for a "reduced number of daily free messages." It remains to be seen how restrictive this reduction ends up being.
OpenAI stresses that ads are still in testing and promises to pay "close attention" to feedback. Although it's clear ads are here to stay, as the company sees them as crucial for funding their work and continuing to "improve the intelligence and capabilities" they offer.
TOGETHER WITH YOU.COM
Learn how to make every AI investment count.
Successful AI transformation starts with deeply understanding your organization’s most critical use cases. We recommend this practical guide from You.com that walks through a proven framework to identify, prioritize, and document high-value AI opportunities.
In this AI Use Case Discovery Guide, you’ll learn how to:
Map internal workflows and customer journeys to pinpoint where AI can drive measurable ROI
Ask the right questions when it comes to AI use cases
Align cross-functional teams and stakeholders for a unified, scalable approach
AMAZON
Amazon Plans to Launch AI Content Marketplace
The company is reportedly preparing a new marketplace that would let publishers sell their content to companies building AI products, signaling a potential shift in how online material is licensed and monetized.
Details:
Amazon has discussed plans with publishing executives for a marketplace where media companies could offer licensed content to AI firms.
Internal presentation slides circulated ahead of an AWS conference reference the marketplace alongside Amazon’s core AI offerings, suggesting it would sit within the company’s broader developer ecosystem.
The move comes as publishers and AI companies continue negotiating how digital content should be used for training models and generating responses, with many publishers pushing for payment structures tied to actual usage.
Amazon has not formally confirmed the project, saying it has nothing specific to announce but noting it has built long-lasting relationships with publishers and continues to innovate.
If launched, the marketplace could create a more structured channel for content licensing in the AI era, potentially reshaping how publishers and technology platforms collaborate.
AI Tutorial
How free users can opt out of ChatGPT ads
To opt out of ads, just follow these easy steps:
Open ChatGPT, click on your profile and select the Settings page.
Here, scroll down to "Ads controls," then choose "Change plan to go ad-free."
Select "Reduce message limits," and ChatGPT will confirm ads are off for your account.
Unfortunately, OpenAI doesn't offer specifics here, so it's not clear how limited the ad-free experience will be. But you can always return to this page at any time to turn ads back on and restore your message limits if it's not worth the trade-off.
Alternatively, you can also use ChatGPT without signing in to avoid ads. However, it's not clear how long that will be the case.
AI Tools to check out
TOGETHER WITH THE THESYS AGENT BUILDER
🛠️ Thesys Agent Builder: Build AI agents that respond with charts, forms, and cards instead of text. No code. Free to start.
🎨 Freepik Spaces: An infinite canvas for real-time collaborative creation, with AI workflows that expand and speed your work.
🔍 Overlead: Find customers who are literally asking for your product.
📹 Ripplica: Automate any webapp with just a simple video.
🤖 Komos: AI agents that learn from watching you work.
TOGETHER WITH YOU.COM
AI is all the rage, but are you using it to your advantage?
Successful AI transformation starts with deeply understanding your organization’s most critical use cases. We recommend this practical guide from You.com that walks through a proven framework to identify, prioritize, and document high-value AI opportunities. Learn more with this AI Use Case Discovery Guide.
AI Findings/Resources
⚠️ The first signs of burnout are coming from the people who embrace AI the most
👀 Robots practice kung fu with monks at Shaolin Temple in China
✅ 5 interesting ways to use a local LLM with MCP tools
The latest in AI and Tech
AI video startup Runway has secured a $315 million Series E round that values the company at $5.3 billion, with plans to use the funding to advance its “world model” research and expand into new industries.
The raise follows the release of Runway’s Gen 4.5 video model and a recent infrastructure expansion deal with CoreWeave.
Waymo is using a new AI world model based on Google DeepMind’s Genie 3 to generate hyper-realistic driving simulations for its autonomous vehicles.
The autonomous driving industry relies entirely on training data collected from real cars and real situations, meaning that potentially dangerous events are not well represented in training data. That's where the new Waymo World Model comes in, allowing engineers to create simulations with simple prompts and driving inputs.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees that ChatGPT has returned to exceeding 10% month-over-month growth, according to CNBC. The report says the chatbot now serves more than 800 million weekly active users, and OpenAI is preparing to release a new model within ChatGPT this week.
Anthropic is reportedly finalizing a $20 billion funding round that would value the AI lab at about $350 billion, with investor demand pushing the raise to roughly double its initial target.
Strategic backers Nvidia and Microsoft are expected to provide most of the funding, alongside major venture firms.
A now-deleted Reddit post from someone posing as an OpenAI employee claimed OpenAI pulled a Super Bowl ad at the last minute that would have revealed its first hardware device. The advertisement featured actor Alexander Skarsgård showing off an orb-shaped device and earbuds.
Greg Brockman dismissed the claims on X, labeling the story as "fake news."
That’s a wrap!
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Gina 👩🏻💻