OpenAI opens unlimited access to latest AI model for free users — and eyes ad revenue

OpenAI is giving free ChatGPT users unlimited access to its latest AI model — a sharp reversal from the usage-cap strategy the company has long relied on to push users toward paid subscriptions.

The IT industry sees the move as part of OpenAI's push to broaden its consumer base in the business-to-consumer market, where it already holds a commanding lead, and use that scale to grow its advertising business. OpenAI set up a dedicated ChatGPT advertising team at its South Korea office earlier this month, accelerating its push into the domestic ad market. The company has about 16 million monthly active users in South Korea, making it the overwhelming No. 1 in the local market.

Starting Monday, free ChatGPT users and subscribers to the entry-level Go plan can use Luna — the latest lightweight AI model in the GPT-5.6 family — without any usage limits, according to industry sources. The rollout is being phased in gradually.

GPT-5.6 is OpenAI's latest AI model, released July 9. It comprises three sub-models: Luna, Sol and Terra. Luna is rated the fastest of the three.

While Luna ranks lowest among the three in overall capability, it holds up well against competing models. On the intelligence index compiled by AI performance research firm Artificial Analysis, Luna scored on par with Google's latest lightweight model, Gemini 3.6 Flash, and outperformed Anthropic's Claude Haiku 4.5.

OpenAI also made its "Think" button — a reasoning feature designed for complex queries — available to free users without limits.

However, the unlimited access applies to text conversations only. Image generation, voice chat and other features still require a paid subscription.

Opening both the latest model and reasoning features to free users marks a notable departure from the monetization playbook that AI companies have followed until now.

OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and other AI firms have consistently capped model usage to nudge users toward paid tiers — particularly restricting access to the newest and most capable reasoning models to generate revenue.

Anthropic, for instance, has restructured its revenue strategy around a pay-as-you-go model for its top-tier offerings.

The company ended a limited free trial of its latest model, Claude Fable 5, last month and imposed tier-based usage limits. Even on some higher-tier plans such as Max and Team Premium, usage of Fable 5 without additional charges is capped at up to 50 percent of the total weekly allowance. Users who exceed that threshold must draw on extra usage credits.

Industry observers point to OpenAI's advertising expansion as the driving force behind the strategic shift. The company aims to grow its consumer-facing user base — an area where it already outpaces rivals — to build the audience scale needed to attract advertisers. ChatGPT's monthly active users in South Korea reached about 16.45 million in July, topping the market by a wide margin, according to data from Mobile Index. Claude ranked second with about 1.42 million users, followed by Perplexity at about 1.2 million.

OpenAI established a dedicated ChatGPT advertising team at its South Korea office earlier this month, with plans to expand the ad business by strengthening support for domestic advertisers and ad agencies.

OpenAI has also been running a pilot ChatGPT advertising program in South Korea since June. The ads are shown to adult free users and Go plan subscribers.

"If the early phase of generative AI competition was about signing up paying subscribers by showcasing the most powerful models, the focus has now shifted to how companies can turn their large user bases into revenue," an industry official said. "OpenAI appears to be leveraging ChatGPT's dominant consumer user base to build advertising into a core revenue stream alongside subscriptions."