ChatGPT may be free to use β but itβs costing OpenAI billions every year Latest from TechRadar in News By: ESchwartzwrites@gmail.com (Eric Hal Schwartz) 21 February 2026 at 04:00 OpenAI is confronting the enormous cost of running ChatGPT at global scale, prompting a shift toward ads, new pricing tiers, and long-term revenue strategies to keep the service sustainable