advertising Archives

OpenAI to start «public» advertising tests on ChatGPT

What ads will look like If you click it, you can query it for more information. (Picture: OpenAI)

The tests will happen «during the coming weeks» for ChatGPT Free and Go tiers — and will try to put relevant, clearly labeled ads beneath GPT responses, OpenAI announces.

OpenAI says they won’t share your data or conversation to advertisers, and will «maintain a high standard» where you can turn off personalization if you want to.

They won’t be shown to under-18s, they say, nor will they show on sensitive topics, such as physical health, mental health or politics.

The neat part of the coming ads is that you click on them and query them for further detail, which is a feature not found in traditional advertising.

The Financial times estimates that OpenAI can earn somewhere around the «low billions» from advertising.

Ads won’t be shown for paying tiers, such as Plus, Pro and Enterprise.

Read more: OpenAI’s announcement. Writeups on Reuters, The Verge and Ars Technica.

OpenAI to serve ads in internal version of ChatGPT ahead of public launch

What it could look like with sponsored posts in the sidebar of ChatGPT. (Picture: generated)

According to journalist Alex Heath on the Sources blog, CEO of Applications Fidji Simo has let OpenAI employees know that they plan to start showing ads in an internal version of ChatGPT, hinting that the work at OpenAI is getting ready for prime time.

Bleepingcomputer also quoted yesterday a report from The Information (paywalled) saying that mockups displaying sponsored information have begun to appear in a sidebar next to the to the main ChatGPT window internally.

Continue reading “OpenAI to serve ads in internal version of ChatGPT ahead of public launch”

Head of ChatGPT says not doing ad tests, despite a Target notice this week

These were not ads, OpenAI says, and anyway, they have been shut off. — Many users were confronted with this graphic at the end of ChatGPT’s responses this week. OpenAI says they are now stopped, and that they weren’t ads. (Picture: screenshot)

People have been complaining about ads being sneakily inserted in their ChatGPT responses late this week, with a «Shop for home…» Target link showing up in their responses.

This comes hot on the heels of an engineer discovering ad code in the Android app — which left a lot of people cautious of such inserts.

It happened to enough people to notice, along with this writer, but it has since been turned off, says Mark Chen, Chief Research Officer at OpenAI:

Continue reading “Head of ChatGPT says not doing ad tests, despite a Target notice this week”

Altman declares «Code Red» at OpenAI, plans Gemini 3-beating model

OpenAI has put ads on hold until it can release a Gemini 3-beating model. — All other initiatives are on hold as OpenAI prepares its next model. (Picture: generated)

Competition is heating up in the AI chatbot market, as highlighted in the last weeks, with new, capable models from Google, Anthropic, and a new Codex Max from OpenAI.

This has now caused Altman to delay other initiatives, such as ads, to focus on making a better ChatGPT, paywalled The Information writes, citing an internal memo.

They are apparently planning to release a new reasoning model next week that will be «ahead of Gemini 3.» But this needs a little more polishing on the «experience.»

Just last week, a developer revealed ad code in the latest ChatGPT beta — meaning that their work on ads was fairly advanced and almost ready to ship.

This work is now on the back burner, at least until next week, when OpenAI hopes to reclaim their crown.

Read more: The Information (paywalled), and Reuters. Discussion on r/Singularity.

Developer finds ad references in latest ChatGPT beta

ChatGPT with ads? They could actually pay for more features while offering a revenue stream for OpenAI. — These little lines of code could be a harbinger of ads on the ChatGPT app. (Picture: Tibor Blaho)

This seems unconfirmed by anyone else, but strongly suggests that OpenAI is working on an ads product for their chatbot.

Tibor Blaho discovered the changes in the beta app for Android while doing routine versioning work for his job at AIPRM.com, which integrates tightly with ChatGPT.

He also likes to «share what is coming next with people who care about ChatGPT and Claude news.»

The new code indicates an ads «bazaar,» and a «SearchAd» with a «SearchAdsCarousel.»

Presumably, ads would begin rolling out on the free version of ChatGPT, where it could pay for offering more features. Or there could be affiliate marketing in the shopping links they just announced.

Google is already rolling out ads on their AI products, and Copilot and Perplexity have started using ads on shopping and follow-up-questions, notes Blaho.

Read more: Tibor Blaho’s x.com post, Bleeping Computer, discussion on r/Singularity.

Google puts «test» ads in AI Mode — and they use AI for targeting

Google's ads in AI Mode have been spotted in the wild, yet Google is already serving ads in Overviews. — Ads are the lifeblood of Google and this was only a question of time. (Picture: Adobe)

If you’ve been using AI Mode or AI Overviews this week, you might have seen something familiar from Google: Ads.

Google has long been signaling their intent to start experimenting with ads in AI outputs, and thinks some relevant ads might be sufficient.

These ads can appear above, beneath and within the results, Google says. And adds:

— For ads to show within the AI Overviews, the ads must additionally be relevant to the content of the AI Overviews.

For Google’s AI Mode, they are still «testing» and have been running with select ads since May, 2025, writes Engadget.

To match you with relevant ads, or even glean some kind of intent from your query, Google uses AI, and then relies on its deep catalog of advertisers to find a match.

Google to start experimenting with ads in AI content

Robby Stein, of Google Search doesn't see ads going away, and lots of opportunity for them in Google's AI products. — Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search comments on advertising in Google’s AI. (Picture: screenshot).

In a wide-ranging interview on the podcast Silicon Valley Girl, Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search is positive about how advertising could get even more granular with all the extra information people can provide in their AI products, saying;

Ads not going away
— I don’t see them [ads] going away. The way people are using Google Search isn’t really changing, what is happening is that it’s expanding [with AI services], he opines.

Continue reading “Google to start experimenting with ads in AI content”

Weekend roundup: Resurrected Clippy, ChatGPT Business and AI Oreo ads

Microsoft wants to put up a nice face for you to talk to with Copilot.

Clippy much? Microsoft launches visualization of Copilot
If you ever use voice mode in Copilot, which Microsoft hopes to expand, you might see a new, expressive animation on your screen. That would be the newly announced «Mico.» Unlike the much maligned Clippy, Mico will use facial expressions that change as you talk. It’s only available in the US, and will work with an upcoming memory feature for Copilot to better respond to requests.
More at: Microsoft’s launch, The Verge and Ars Technica.

OpenAI announces ChatGPT Business
ChatGPT will now combine all the context of your businesses’ connected apps, like Slack, Sharepoint, Github and Google Drive. This makes it possible to ask pretty detailed questions about your business and have comprehensive answers delivered in one place — without the need to go searching through lots of different repositories. The feature is available tor Business, Enterprise and Education customers starting last Thursday.
More at: OpenAI’s launch page, The Verge and The Register.

Read on for more!

Continue reading “Weekend roundup: Resurrected Clippy, ChatGPT Business and AI Oreo ads”

Meta to use AI chats to «personalize» ads and recommendations

While they have no idea yet about how to do it, Meta will use AI chats to "personalize" your ads on December 16. — The free ride is over; Meta AI is getting monetized (Picture: Adobe)

Starting December 16, 2025, all of your Meta AI interactions will influence what ads you see across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

There is no way to opt out, according to The Wall Street Journal, but they won’t be targeting topics like «religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership.»

Continue reading “Meta to use AI chats to «personalize» ads and recommendations”

Yes, there’s an AI ad out there — but the tech can do so much more

Google's Veo3 is used for a lot of "AI slop," but look carefully and you can find some real gems — A still from a Veo 3 video shared on r/VEO3. Yes, it’s supposed to look like that.

While big brands cautiously test the waters on national TV, Reddit’s r/VEO3 and X’s #Veo3 shows us what AI video is really capable of — and it’s not just ‘slop.’

It’s the weekend film festival you didn’t know you needed, running 24/7 in your browser.

Internet awash in short AI videos
Ever since Google launched Veo3 at I/O 2025, the internet has been awash in hundreds of thousands — maybe even millions — of photorealistic video clips made with the tool, of varying quality.

Continue reading “Yes, there’s an AI ad out there — but the tech can do so much more”

Google’s AdSense experimenting with AI chatbots

Google's Adsense is expanding into "converstional ai." — The era of free AI chats may be coming to an end, with google experimenting with ads. (Picture: Google)

The internet display ad behemoth is moving with the times, as the AI industry seeks to monetize. It’s likely only a question of time before we get ads in Gemini.

AdSense apparently began experimenting with ads for AI chatbots, or, as they call it «conversational AI,» in chatbots iAsk and Liner, according to Bloomberg, which is paywalled.

Just a test?
SEO roundtable quotes Bloomberg as saying that AdSense had «expanded to include conversations with chatbots operated by AI startups.»

Continue reading “Google’s AdSense experimenting with AI chatbots”

Reklamebyrå lagde 130 000 «hyperlokale» videoer med AI

AI kombinert med småbutikker resulterte i over hundre tusen reklamefilmer i India. (Bilde: WPP, skjermdump.)

Flere globale reklamebyråer har sine egne AI-team, men ikke alle er like frempå med teknologien.

Ogilvy, derimot, satset stort i 2021 — og fikk Bollywood-skuespilleren Shah Rukh Khan til å fremtre i et svimlende antall videoer som oppfordret seerne til å handle i konkrete lokale butikker.

Formålet med øvelsen var å promotere det britiske sjokoladeselskapet Cadbury sine produkter under Diwali, den årlige lysfestivalen i India.

Continue reading “Reklamebyrå lagde 130 000 «hyperlokale» videoer med AI”