OpenAI has recruited one of Meta’s most senior advertising executives to lead its push into digital marketing, marking a sharp reversal from CEO Sam Altman’s previous stance that ads were a “last resort” business model.
David Dugan, who spent more than 12 years at Meta overseeing relationships with the world’s largest advertisers, joins as vice president of global ad solutions. He will report directly to OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The hire comes as OpenAI tests advertisements on its free ChatGPT tier and lower-cost subscription plans, which began earlier this year. The company has asked brands for minimum commitments of $200,000 to run ads inside ChatGPT, ADWEEK reported, with early partners including AppLovin, WIRED and Best Buy already participating in pilot programs.
Dugan’s appointment signals a deliberate expansion beyond subscription revenue at a time when OpenAI faces significant cash burn rates.
“Ads plus AI is sort of uniquely unsettling to me,” he said at the time. “I kind of think of ads as a last resort for us for a business model.”
OpenAI has since clarified that advertisements will not influence ChatGPT’s responses and that user conversations won’t be sold to advertisers. The company says it has more than 900 million weekly active users across its platforms.
Major advertising holding companies including Omnicom, WPP and Dentsu are already lining up to test inventory on ChatGPT. Dugan brings established connections with these firms and global brands from his role as Meta’s vice president of global clients and agencies.
His hiring follows other high-profile appointments from big tech companies. Fidji Simo, former head of Facebook who now leads OpenAI’s product and business teams as CEO of applications, joined last year after guiding Instacart through its initial public offering.
OpenAI’s move into advertising hasn’t gone unnoticed by competitors. During Super Bowl LX earlier this year, rival Anthropic ran commercials mocking the company for introducing ads on free and lower-cost ChatGPT tiers.
The company also hired former Slack CEO Denise Dresser as chief revenue officer in December 2025, further building out its commercial infrastructure.
Dugan’s experience positions him to help OpenAI compete in a digital advertising market where Meta generated close to $200 billion in revenue throughout 2025.
