Anthropic pledges to keep Claude ad-free while OpenAI moves forward with ChatGPT advertising

Anthropic positions itself against advertising while exploring commercial chat transactions. In a blog post, the company says Claude will remain ad-free: no sponsored links, no advertiser-influenced responses. Unlike search engines, users often share personal information in AI chats, and advertising could push conversations toward transactions rather than helpfulness, concerns OpenAI CEO Sam Altman once shared before his company decided to pursue ads after all.

Expanding access to Claude is central to our public benefit mission, and we want to do it without selling our users’ attention or data to advertisers.

Instead, Anthropic plans to fund operations through enterprise contracts and subscriptions. The company is also exploring e-commerce transactions like bookings or purchases Claude handles for users. Anthropic could earn from these, similar to OpenAI's plans. However, the company says Claude's primary goal should always be providing helpful answers.

Anthropic's statement comes shortly after OpenAI revealed its ChatGPT advertising plans. The company even produced a video series poking fun at ChatGPT ads.