Skool News #79: Upload Your Own Ads and the AI Ad Opt-Out

Skool News #79, published on 20 October 2026, previews owner-uploaded image ads for Growth Boost level three, confirms an off switch for AI-generated ads, explains why freemium groups get no ad creatives, and outlines an outlier ad library plus a rebuild of Skool's global payments, most of which were still plans that day.

The AI ad opt-out was described as shipped. Custom uploads were a "sneak peek" in this episode and arrived a week later, which we cover in Skool News #80. The payments work and the ad library were plans with no firm date.

How do you turn off Skool's AI ads?

You turn them off in the Growth tab of your group settings, where the hosts say a "don't like them" option lets you delete the AI ads and never generate them again, after which Skool uses your cover image as your ad.

The other option is to change what the ads are built from. They are generated from your cover image, group icon, profile picture and About page, and the hosts say edits to those inputs can take up to an hour to refresh the ads. Switching the ads off happens immediately, according to the same walk-through.

The hosts say most owners like the ads. The exceptions they name are owners whose work is the product: a tattoo artist whose AI ad shows a tattoo they never did, and a math professor whose ad shows whiteboard equations nobody has checked. Our Skool News #78 recap covers how the four levels were first laid out.

Why are freemium groups left out of Skool's ad creatives?

The hosts say they tested it and freemium groups "just don't work with ads", because a free signup might convert six months later or never, so the math fails, and for now those groups get no creatives and only a little Growth Boost promotion.

Their comparison is the free trial. A trial takes a card and ends in seven days, and the hosts say even that is hard to model. They also mention an internal analysis, with no figures given, that people who start free rarely turn paid while people who start paid often buy more paid things.

Free groups have a separate problem: level two needs one new paying member, so a group with no paying members cannot reach it. They said this could change ("maybe it will at some point"). We answer the question in full in do free or freemium Skool groups get Growth Boost, and the setup options are in our Skool freemium model guide.

How will uploading your own Skool ads work?

As previewed on 20 October, level three owners would upload custom image ads into slots beside their AI ads, starting with about six of each, and Skool would make the two sets compete, with any custom ad that wins becoming the default.

The stated reasoning is that AI ads suit busy people and people who hate making ads, while creative owners should get control "down to the pixel". The hosts said there was a chance uploads would go live that week, and "definitely" by the next episode.

The hosts also addressed owners who saw "30 custom ads" on the tab and only seven in their account: it is not a fault, they said, and everyone should have six to eight for now. The numbers moved again a week later, so use the #80 slot table for what shipped. As with the wider Growth Boost system, $10,000 a day is a ceiling described by the hosts, not an entitlement.

What is the Skool outlier ad library?

It is a planned library of the best-performing ads from Skool communities, so owners can see what is working now and borrow ideas, with an outlier threshold the hosts floated as roughly five times better than average.

The hosts' framing is "Skool specific": not random internet ads, but ads for Skool communities. No ship date was given, so treat it as an intention.

What is on the Skool road map after #79?

The road map on 20 October listed Live Calls V2, Growth Boost V2, a secret project and payment methods in progress, with global search, a global calendar and a native app up next.

How will Skool's global payments rebuild work?

The plan replaces today's single US merchant with local entities and local merchant accounts around the world, so a purchase runs domestically, with one checkout that adapts by country and tries up to three fallback processors before telling a buyer the card declined.

The problem as described: cross-border charges decline more often, and the hosts single out Latin America and Asia. The examples given are PayPal as the likely default in Germany, Alipay or WePay in Asia, and a Brazilian method the captions render as "Perks", which we read as Pix. Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards, PayPal and Klarna were also named.

Currencies come after this layer, not with it. The hosts predict higher About page and free trial conversion and lower churn from fewer declines. Those are forecasts. For what works today, see Skool payment methods, which we updated with this plan.

Which groups were score of the week in #79?

The three groups were School of Hard Knocks at a stated $161,000 a month, Cardboard Profit Ignite at $13,600 a month, and Give Me a Dollar, a one-time $1 group that the hosts said had made $73 in total.

These are spoken figures. The Skool News group described as School of Hard Knocks matches School of Mentors, the School of Hard Knocks brand's community, which Skool displayed at $19 a month and 5,372 members on 6 November 2026. The leaderboard showed it at $154,961 a month that day.

Frequently asked questions

What is new in Skool News #79?

The AI ad off switch, a preview of custom ad uploads, the reasoning on freemium groups, a planned outlier ad library, and the most detailed explanation yet of the global payments rebuild.

Can you turn off AI ads on Skool?

Yes, according to the hosts. The option in the Growth tab deletes the ads and stops new ones, and Skool then uses your cover image as your ad.

How long do Skool ads take to update after I change my About page?

The hosts say up to an hour. That is their statement, not a measured service level.

Is PayPal on Skool yet?

Not as of this episode. PayPal was named as part of the planned global checkout, and the host's only timing was that it "could be in a month or something" on 20 October.

Why don't freemium groups get Skool ads?

The hosts say the economics fail because a free member may convert much later or never, so ad spend cannot be modeled against revenue. They said this could change.