Ads are ready to invade your conversations with AI chatbots

Not too long ago, I ranted about how YouTube has started blasting ads left and right, basically ruining the viewing experience significantly. Based on recent developments, it seems ads are now coming to ruin your conversations with AI chatbots across the board. Looking at it from the other end, running these powerful AI models costs a fortune, and someone has to pay the bills. Increasingly, it looks like advertisers are stepping up to foot that bill.

Google, the giant of online advertising, has already started experimenting. Bloomberg reported earlier today that Google’s AdSense network, the same system that puts ads on countless websites and search results, is now being tested inside the conversations you have with some AI chatbots. They apparently ran trials with AI startups like iAsk and Liner last year and early this year. A Google spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that AdSense is indeed available for conversational AI experiences. It makes sense from Google’s perspective; they need to keep their ad revenue flowing, especially as AI tools like Perplexity AI chip away at traditional search.

It’s not just Google quietly weaving ads into the background. Smaller players are getting in on the action too. According to that same Bloomberg piece, startups like iAsk are already showing ads below their AI answers. Liner’s CEO, Luke Jinu Kim, mentioned they’re trying to show a small number of highly relevant ads, hoping to mimic the early days of Google search ads. Meanwhile, Perplexity AI, a prominent AI search contender, is apparently making direct deals with brands to sponsor follow-up questions, as noted by Bloomberg.

And speaking of Perplexity, TechCrunch reported just last week that their CEO, Aravind Srinivas, was remarkably open about their plans. He stated on a podcast that their upcoming web browser, Comet, is partly designed to track everything users do online – Browse, shopping, travel – to build detailed profiles for selling “hyper personalized” ads. It’s a bold, perhaps unsettlingly familiar, strategy mirroring how Google built its empire. Srinivas believes users won’t mind the tracking if the ads are super relevant. I guess we’ll see about that.

Even Meta is eyeing this space. During their recent earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked about potentially adding “product recommendations or ads” to the Meta AI app, which recently launched as a standalone product, according to The Verge. Like others, Meta is pouring billions into AI and exploring ways to make it pay, possibly including a premium subscription tier alongside ads.

And what about OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT? Despite CEO Sam Altman previously expressing a dislike for ads and worrying about them influencing AI answers, internal documents obtained by The Information suggest OpenAI might be forecasting significant revenue from “free user monetization” – read: ads – starting as early as 2026. Search Engine Land covered this potential shift, highlighting the contrast with past executive statements.

So, yeah. It seems the era of purely conversational, ad-free AI might be drawing to a close. While some promise relevance and subtlety, the fundamental nature of these interactions could change. Get ready to see ads pop up alongside your AI-generated poems, summaries, and advice. The invasion, it seems, is well underway.

Featured image AI-generated.