Smriti Mandhana x Harmanpreet Kaur x ChatGPT & the evolution of OpenAI ads in India

After becoming a sponsor for Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026, OpenAI is back with another cricket-focused ad campaign starring Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. 

The playful ad shows Smriti Mandhana tricking Harmanpreet Kaur by asking her permission to click a picture of their breakfast to upload on social media, whereas what she is actually doing is uploading it on ChatGPT to find out its protein content, highlighting a new use case for the AI chatbot. It’s a short, playful ad with few frames and fewer dialogues. 

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OpenAI launched ChatGPT globally in November 2022, introducing generative artificial intelligence to the masses. Ever since its launch, the ChatGPT website and app have generated considerable buzz, which was initially enough for the company to attract users. 

However, after operating without advertisements for almost two years, the AI firm finally launched its first mainstream ad in the world during Super Bowl LIX, an American football championship in 2024. 

OpenAI’s first mainstream ad in India started popping up on Indian streets in the form of a multi-city OOH advertising campaign in September 2025. “Create a meal plan that hits 100g of protein per day. And a grocery list under ₹100/week,” read the minimalist OpenAI billboard in Mumbai’s Juhu, reminding users what their ChatGPT conversations could look like.

December 2025 marked ChatGPT’s first TVC. Directed by Bharat Sikka, the ad depicted a young woman nervously practising for a job interview by using ChatGPT's Voice Mode to refine her responses.

The ad has since been removed from all official OpenAI communication channels.

Two weeks ago, OpenAI launched another 30-second Hindi ad in India, depicting a young shopkeeper verbally quizzing ChatGPT about how to keep his small kirana business alive as a new supermarket is opening right opposite his store. “Open a chai tapri (stall) in front of your kirana store” is ChatGPT’s response. 

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The rollout follows a series of India-focused introductions from OpenAI, including Study Mode for students, the affordable ChatGPT Go subscription, and IndQA, a dedicated benchmark for evaluating AI models on Indian languages and cultural context.