OpenAI recruiting Head of Advertising as it eyes 700 million users

OpenAI is recruiting a head of advertising as part of plans to bring ads to ChatGPT and other products, potentially targeting its 700 million users, according to media reports. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s head of applications, who joined the company last month after serving as CEO of Instacart, is leading the search for the new role, according to a Times of India report.

The position will oversee all monetisation efforts, including advertising and existing subscription services, and is expected to report directly to Simo. OpenAI said Simo manages most company operations except research, infrastructure, consumer hardware, and safety, which report to CEO Sam Altman.

The recruitment follows job postings for technical roles to support advertising, including a Growth Paid Marketing Platform Engineer to build campaign tools, integrate with major ad platforms, and implement real-time attribution systems.

The company has so far generated $12.7 billion in revenue in 2025 through subscriptions, more than triple its 2024 figures, but it still spends more than it earns, according to the media reports. With just 20 million paid subscribers out of 700 million total users, the company sees advertising as a major untapped revenue opportunity.