As OpenAI plans to introduce ads to ChatGPT, competitor Anthropic has promised to make Claude ad-free. In a blog post today, the company said there are “many good places to advertise” but “an interview with Claude is not one of them.”
According to Anthropic, including ads in Claude would be inconsistent with its mission to create a useful assistant for work and deep thinking. Antropic says users shouldn’t have to guess whether AI is useful or “subtly steer the conversation toward something monetizable.”
There will be no advertisements or sponsored links in conversations with Claude, and Claude’s responses will not be influenced by advertisers and will not include third-party product placement.
Our analysis of conversations with Claude (conducted in a way that keeps all data private and anonymous) shows that a significant portion involve topics that are sensitive or deeply personal—the kinds of conversations you might have with a trusted advisor. Many other uses include complex software engineering tasks, deep work, or thinking through complex problems. The appearance of ads in these contexts would feel incongruous – and in many cases inappropriate.
The promise of an ad-free experience could encourage people to choose Claude over OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In January, OpenAI said it would begin testing free ads and Go tier subscribers in the United States, though subscribers with higher paid tiers won’t see ads. OpenAI says the ads will be clearly labeled and won’t affect the responses ChatGPT provides, nor will the company provide details of the conversation to advertisers.
To further reinforce the difference between Cloud’s ad-free experience and the ChatGPT-supported experience, Anthropic plans to run a humorous Super Bowl ad where a man receives an unwanted cougar dating ad after asking about his mother. “Ads are coming to AI,” the video caption reads. “But not Claude.
Antropic plans to continue monetization through enterprise contracts and paid subscriptions, with revenues reinvested in improving Claude. Anthropic will retain its free tier, and the company says it may also offer cheaper subscription tiers and regional pricing in the future if there’s demand for them. Claude Pro is priced at $20 per month, which is the same price as the higher tier ChatGPT Plus.
Claude’s ad-free experience isn’t certain forever, as Antropic says in a blog post: “Should we reconsider this approach, we will be transparent about our reasons for doing so.”