Late last week, OpenAI revealed its plans to imminently begin testing ads within ChatGPT.
What a shocker.
Also unsurprisingly, OpenAI’s announcement prompted a veritable deluge of predictions and concerns. And perhaps least surprisingly of all, OpenAI shared almost no additional information beyond its initial statement.
Advertisers, agencies and publishers alike are left with “more questions than answers at this point,” said Michelle Merklin, VP of search at independent performance agency Tinuiti.
But, regardless, ads soon arriving in a major AI chatbot marks a pivotal moment for marketers to weigh consumer expectations – and how these ads might differ from those in other, more traditional channels.
Know your worth
Everyone seems to agree that ads within ChatGPT will need to deliver value beyond a typical search ad or a basic recommendation. AI chatbots can’t just become a “click junkyard,” said Perion CEO Tal Jacobson.
He’s optimistic, though, that OpenAI’s recently announced cost-per-view model – which will charge advertisers based on impressions or views rather than clicks – will push advertisers to focus on driving meaningful, organic engagement over relying on direct links.
But beyond the payment model, nearly everything else about ChatGPT’s ad plans is an open question.
Even potential buyers are left guessing.
There is “supposedly” an ads team within OpenAI now, Merklin told AdExchanger. “But they haven’t given us direct access to that team,” she said.
OpenAI reps told Tinuiti that there is “no wait list right now,” Merklin said, but there also doesn’t appear to be a way for clients to sign up directly. So far, she added, OpenAI has been “very noncommittal about everything.”
Written in the stars
That noncommittal stance tracks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s longstanding ambivalence about advertising – doubts he’s expressed more than once.
But despite Altman’s hemming and hawing, it shouldn’t come as a shock that ChatGPT is introducing ads.
“We’ve been expecting this,” said Alex Sherman, CEO and co-founder of AI marketing platform Bluefish.
“The internet tends to rhyme,” he added. Which is to say, most new technology eventually becomes a new marketing channel, which evolves to include both paid and organic opportunities.
Realistically, according to Mediaocean CMO Aaron Goldman, ads are the only way for AI chatbots to scale globally and “realize their full potential and valuation.”
Goldman predicts that once users grow accustomed to this initial stage of relatively unobtrusive ads – the examples in OpenAI’s announcement are almost indistinguishable from standard search ads – future iterations will be incorporated directly into chat conversations and look more like “what we think of as affiliate links.”
But beyond the format, the more interesting question may be about the function.
Jonathan Heller, founder and co-CEO of brand agent platform Firsthand, believes that ads in AI chatbots will be an “entirely new form of marketing” in which AI-powered ads will function as agents, conversing with a customer and adapting in real time to their needs. And rather than confining that interaction to within an ad unit or walled garden, Heller said, “it should extend through the entire journey.”
The road ahead
Although the uncertainty – and opportunity – surrounding ChatGPT’s advertising debut has stirred plenty of discussion, it’s not the first AI chatbot to roll out ads.
Microsoft Copilot has advertising that looks similar to search ads, and Perplexity gave the ad business a go before hitting pause late last year to reevaluate its model.
“Everyone’s so mean to Perplexity these days,” Sherman said, but he thinks the company was “very brave” for being the first to experiment with how ads might work inside an AI chatbot.
OpenAI, meanwhile, was “under a lot of pressure” to launch its ads business earlier, said Sherman, because it takes time to get the system right, from pricing to partnerships. If the fate of Perplexity’s ad business, which has hit some major snags, is any indication, “we’re going to see the same thing happen with OpenAI,” he added.
Which is why Tinuiti is cautioning its clients not to be first movers, citing negative feedback that OpenAI received after it “rushed to market” with instant checkout and agentic shopping last year, not to mention Perplexity’s struggles.
“I think they definitely will have long-term success with this,” said Merklin, but “the short term is going to be a bumpy road.”
