The app suggestions that sparked outrage in December? They were just the warm-up. Six weeks ago, OpenAI insisted the Target shopping prompts appearing in ChatGPT weren't ads. They were "app suggestions," the company said, part of an SDK partnership, not a monetization play. Users weren't buying it. Now, neither is OpenAI. On January 16, 2026, the company officially announced it would begin testing advertisements in ChatGPT for free and Go-tier users in the United States. The same company that called ads "unsettling" and a "last resort" just three years ago is now building an ad platform from scratch. The December Controversy That Foreshadowed Everything The warning signs appeared in early December 2025. Benjamin De Kraker, a former xAI employee and paying ChatGPT Plus subscriber, posted a screenshot that went viral: he was asking about Windows BitLocker security, and ChatGPT responded with a prompt to "Shop for home and groceries. Connect Targ...