Google officially stated it has no plans to add advertising to the Gemini app. Dan Taylor (VP Google) confirmed this over the weekend.
OpenAI, on the other hand, is starting to test ad inserts for free users in the US in a couple of weeks. Plus they're rolling out a new "Go" plan at $8/month — cheaper but also with ads (presumably to cover inference costs without scaring people off with the $20 price).
The balance of power is interesting:
— Google can afford to subsidize Gemini because they have infinite cash from classic Search and AI Overviews (where ads are present). Their strategy now is audience retention at any cost.
— OpenAI doesn't have that luxury; they need to show profit and pay for hardware.
Ben Thompson (Stratechery) rightly notes that for OpenAI this is a dangerous path. If ads become intrusive or start turning responses into slop — users will simply migrate to the free and (for now) clean Gemini. Google is currently playing "good cop," and given their resources, they can strangle the competitor with a free service for a very long time.