OpenAI is creating a new “ads integrity team” to make sure its advertising business in ChatGPT grows without undermining user trust or safety.

According to a recent OpenAI job posting, the ads integrity team is a new zero-to-one group, meaning it is being built from scratch to support OpenAI’s first large-scale push into ads. Its mission is to allow the ad business to scale without risking safety, compliance and user confidence in ChatGPT’s answers. 

OpenAI announced last month that it would soon begin testing ads in the U.S. for free users and members of the $8 per month Go plan. Ads will not affect the answers ChatGPT provides, OpenAI stated. Advertisers must commit to a minimum spend of $200,000 to join the initial program, indicating that OpenAI is targeting bigger companies rather than small buyers. The tests have not yet begun; there are no ads in ChatGPT as of the time of writing. 

OpenAI is adding ads to monetize its expansive user base, which reached 800 million weekly active users as of late 2025. Most of those users, roughly 95%, still use the free version of ChatGPT, incentivising OpenAI to find ways to monetize with ads. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X last year that the company was on track to bring in more than $20 billion in annual revenue in 2025 and could generate “hundreds of billions” of dollars in revenue by 2030, making it one of the top-earning AI platforms.

The ads integrity team will have direct influence over how ads appear inside ChatGPT. Ads will sit inside or alongside AI-generated responses, so integrity decisions will affect both user experience and advertiser outcomes.

How much do ad integrity roles pay?

According to the job posting, a San Francisco-based software engineer on OpenAI’s ads integrity team can make $230,000 to $385,000 in salary, plus equity. In comparison, according to Indeed, the average salary for a U.S.-based software engineer is around $130,000 per year. 

OpenAI’s top-of-market rates reflect how central the company expects ads to be to its business. OpenAI is looking for individuals who can implement ads safely. The company is targeting senior engineers with at least six years of experience and a track record of success. It prefers experience in trust, safety and fraud prevention, with ad experience considered a major plus. 

What do integrity team engineers do?

According to the job description, integrity engineers will design systems that enforce safety and trust for both ads and advertisers. They are also responsible for evaluating ad content and landing pages to detect harmful, misleading or policy-violating material before it reaches users.

The role includes deciding where ads show up in ChatGPT. The engineer will ensure that ad placements feel appropriate and contextual. Integrity team members will also collaborate across teams to classify content and detect risk. 

By launching integrity efforts early, OpenAI attempts to prevent a wave of scams and low-quality ads that have plagued other platforms. For example, Meta revealed in December that it had removed more than 134 million scam ads last year. 

Other tech companies have ads integrity teams. Meta has long operated a business integrity unit to moderate ad content, while Google has an ad traffic quality team. TikTok has listed roles on an ads business integrity team, and Amazon Ads is an integrity-focused advertising group.

Still, industry experts like Ariella Garcia, chief operating officer of the Check My Ads Institute, note that the true test will be how deeply OpenAI invests in integrity systems after the initial launch. 

“The risk of a large volume of scam ads in the early days is far lower,” Garcia told Business Insider. 

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