If you use the free version of ChatGPT, the ads you see under its answers can now be aimed at you using your email address or phone number. OpenAI’s own help pages for advertisers confirm that a company can upload a list of customer emails or phone numbers and show ChatGPT ads to the people on it. You can limit how personal those ChatGPT ads get, and this guide shows where the switches are.
The short version
Advertisers can now match their own customer lists to ChatGPT accounts, so the ads under your answers may come from a store that already has your email. You cannot remove ads on the free plan without a trade-off, but you can switch off ad personalization in about a minute.
- Advertisers can upload email addresses, phone numbers or Android advertising IDs, and a list must match at least 25,000 ChatGPT users before it can be used to show ads.
- Ads appear only on the Free and Go plans; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts have none, and neither do accounts identified as under 18.
- To turn off personalization, open Settings, then Ad Controls, and switch off Personalize ads and Past chats and memory.
- Turning personalization off does not remove ads, because ChatGPT can still pick an ad based on the chat you are having right now.
- Free users can opt out of ads completely, but they get fewer free messages a day and lose some features, such as image generation and deep research.
What changes for you: until now, most people assumed ChatGPT ads were picked from what they typed in a single chat. Custom audience matching means a company you once gave your email to, a shoe store, a bank, a gym, can now find you inside ChatGPT too. OpenAI says it does not share your conversations with advertisers, and the matching happens on its side, but it is one more place your contact details are being used to sell to you.
How ChatGPT ads use your email and phone number
OpenAI calls this feature custom audiences. Here is how it works, in plain terms:
- A company uploads a file of email addresses or phone numbers, plain or scrambled into a code (a process called hashing). It can also upload Google Advertising IDs, the ad ID number on Android phones.
- OpenAI checks the list against ChatGPT accounts. The company never sees which people matched.
- If at least 25,000 people match, the company can show its ads to them or bid more to reach them. OpenAI recommends lists of 100,000 or more.
- Lists smaller than 25,000 can only be used to leave people out, for example to stop showing a sign-up ad to existing customers.
- OpenAI says uploaded files are deleted after processing, usually within 24 hours.
The 25,000 floor matters. It means an advertiser cannot use this tool to single out one person or a small group. It does not stop a big retailer with millions of customer emails from following its shoppers into ChatGPT.
The feature drew attention after 404 Media reported on Oct. 15, 2026, that its own tests showed advertisers could target ChatGPT users this way. OpenAI’s advertiser help page describes the same tools.
Who sees ads in ChatGPT, and who does not
Ads appear for logged-in adults on the Free and Go plans. They sit below ChatGPT’s answer and are labelled Sponsored. OpenAI says ads do not change the answers ChatGPT gives, and that ads are not shown next to health, mental health or political topics.
There are no ads on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu accounts, and none on accounts OpenAI identifies as belonging to someone under 18. Ads started in the United States on Feb. 9, 2026, and OpenAI says they are now rolling out in select regions. Personalized ads are not offered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for now.
How to turn off ad personalization in ChatGPT
This takes about a minute on the app or the website. OpenAI’s ads help page lists the same path.
- Open ChatGPT and tap your name or profile picture to open Settings.
- Tap Ad Controls.
- Switch off Personalize ads. This stops ChatGPT from using your ad history, interests and past chats to pick ads.
- Switch off Past chats and memory so older conversations are not used for ads.
- Tap Delete ads data to clear the ads you have seen and the interests ChatGPT has noted. OpenAI says it can take up to 30 days to clear fully.
On any single ad, you can also tap the three dots to hide it, give feedback or see why it was shown.
What turning it off does not do
Ads do not go away. With personalization off, ChatGPT can still show an ad that fits the chat you are in, so a question about a trip may still bring a hotel ad. Personalization settings also do not decide whether your email is on an advertiser’s list. That depends on which companies you have shared it with.
If you never want to see ads, there are two routes. Free users can opt out of ads in exchange for fewer free messages each day and fewer features, such as image generation and deep research, and paid Plus and Pro plans carry no ads at all.
Two extra steps that cut down matching
- On an Android phone, open Settings, search for Ads, and tap Delete advertising ID. That retires the ID number advertisers can upload.
- Use a separate email address for shopping sign-ups and loyalty cards. A store list can only match the email you gave that store.
If you want to go further, our guide to removing yourself from data brokers covers the companies that collect and sell contact lists in the first place.
What we don’t know yet
OpenAI has not said how many advertisers use custom audiences, or whether ads will reach other countries soon. Its help pages for Free and Go users mention ad controls but do not yet explain list matching in plain words. Regulators are already looking at OpenAI on other issues, as we covered in the FTC’s AI safety investigation.
For now, the useful move is the one-minute settings change above. If you rely on the free plan, our explainer on what free ChatGPT users get with GPT-6 shows what you keep without paying.
