In short
ChatGPT can already choose ads using your past chats and its memory outside Europe, and Google is testing ads based on what it pulls from your Gmail and Photos. We explain what they use, how things stand in Spain and which settings are worth reviewing.
In this article
In short
Outside Europe, yes: ChatGPT can use your past chats and its memory to choose ads if you have personalisation turned on, and Google is testing ads in AI Mode for anyone who connects Gmail or Photos. In Spain, not yet, but it's worth reviewing your settings before it arrives.
What does ChatGPT use to choose an ad?
According to OpenAI's official help, ads appear on the Free and Go plans; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu don't have them. To choose which one to show you, the system looks at the conversation you have open, your approximate location and your language.
If you have personalised ads turned on, it can add three more things: your past chats, your memory and how you have reacted to other ads. OpenAI says it doesn't place ads next to sensitive topics such as health or politics, or in temporary chats.
And in Spain?
The ads are already here. OpenAI announced on 18 August 2026 that they were coming to 31 European markets, including Spain. For now they are ads tied to the conversation of the moment, not to a profile of you.
That could change soon. The Hamburg data protection authority warns that OpenAI is preparing ads in Europe based on profiles built from past and current chats, device data and usage data. They will only arrive if you give your consent. Its concern: according to an OpenAI study it cites, 49% of what people write in ChatGPT consists of questions, people asking for advice, sometimes about very intimate topics.
What changes at Google?
Google has confirmed that it is testing ads in AI Mode for anyone who connects their apps with Personal Intelligence, as Search Engine Roundtable reports. In March it had said that this experience would not have ads.
Its help page explains it this way: ads are not based “directly” on your Gmail inbox or your Photos library, but the summaries, snippets and inferences it draws from them can be used to show you ads. The same page says that this data can be used to train its models and that some of it is reviewed by people, and it asks you not to connect your apps if they contain confidential information. Spain does not currently appear on the list of countries where they can be connected.
What can you do now?
- Review ChatGPT's ad controls (Settings > Ad controls). You can turn off personalisation and the use of past chats and memory, and delete ad data.
- Go through your memory. Delete what you don't want remembered or turn it off.
- Use temporary chat for anything delicate: it doesn't use memory and doesn't show ads.
- Think twice before accepting when ChatGPT asks for your consent for personalised ads. That's what Hamburg recommends.
- Connect only what's necessary. Before giving an assistant your email or photos, ask yourself what it will draw from them and what for.
How do we see it at Traiker?
An assistant's memory is worth a lot, including to those who sell ads. That's why at Traiker we defend the idea that your important data should live in a place of your own: each person or company has their own encrypted database. Your data is yours: we don't train models on it or process it. Your assistants query it through MCP only when they need it; we're opening access gradually in the beta.
To go further, see what ChatGPT, Claude and Grok do with your conversations and who owns your agent's memory.
Frequently asked questions
Can advertisers read my chats?
No, according to OpenAI and Google: neither shares your conversations, email or photos with advertisers, who only receive aggregated data.
If I turn off personalisation, do I stop seeing ads?
No. You will keep seeing ads tied to the conversation of the moment. To avoid them in ChatGPT you need a paid plan or the free ad-free option, which comes with fewer messages and fewer features.
Does this affect businesses?
ChatGPT's Business and Enterprise plans don't have ads. The risk lies with teams that use free personal accounts for work.
If you want your assistants to work with your data without spreading it around, sign up for the Traiker beta.
