ChatGPT To Feature Advertising Soon
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Media reports have emerged that OpenAI is considering running “sponsored content” ads on ChatGPT that could influence users’ purchasing decisions. According to The Information, OpenAI plans to prioritize the inclusion of sponsored content in AI model responses.
In addition to sponsored content within responses, OpenAI employees have created mockups for two more advertising formats. The first is a sidebar with sponsored results next to the main response. The second is pop-up elements that appear only after a user action: for example, clicking on a location in a tourist route might trigger offers for paid excursions. According to a source at The Information, OpenAI sees an opportunity to create a “new type of digital advertising” rather than simply copying existing formats like search ads or social media ads.
The interest in advertising is driven by financial pressure. According to OpenAI itself, 2.1% of ChatGPT queries are related to shopping. Meanwhile, the service has hundreds of millions of free users who are not yet generating revenue. According to an analysis of OpenAI’s internal documents published by The Wall Street Journal and The Information, the company expects to earn tens of billions of dollars by 2030 from monetizing free users through advertising and affiliate programs.
Google Search includes ads that can influence user purchasing behavior. However, given that GPT knows far more about user preferences than Google, ChatGPT ads could disrupt the web economy, warns BleepingComputer.
