OpenAI is putting ads on top of the pictures ChatGPT generates. The company announced today that visual display ads will start appearing alongside image-generation results in the U.S., beginning later this month. Ads will come from an initial test group of advertisers and will be clearly labeled, according to OpenAI.
The move comes as Meta’s Muse grows into a free competitor for AI chatbots like ChatGPT. OpenAI already introduced ads earlier this year to support its free and low-cost subscription tiers, and expanded them to India in August.
Ads Start in the U.S. Only
The new ads will show products and services from that initial group of advertisers. They will not influence the answers ChatGPT provides, OpenAI says.
Ads will begin rolling out in the U.S. only for now. The company has not said when or if they will expand to other countries.
Measurement Tools and Partners Expand
OpenAI is also expanding its ad measurement tools and partnerships. The partner ecosystem now includes:
- Click attribution solutions
- AppsFlyer
- Triple Whale
- Adjust
- DV Rockerbox
- Northbeam
- Branch
- Singular
- Kochava
- Airbridge
- Tenjin
Full-funnel, advanced measurement partners include Fospha, Measured and INCRMNTAL.
Brand Suitability Pilots With DV and IAS
OpenAI is working on brand suitability evaluation pilots with DoubleVerify (DV) and Integral Ad Science (IAS). Those pilots will help advertisers better understand the ChatGPT ads environment, the company said.
OpenAI has also partnered with Haus, Measured and WorkMagic to help advertisers explore “geo-based” experiments around ads.
The Goal Is a Viable Ad Business
The combined moves aim to make ChatGPT a viable ad-supported business for users on free and low-cost plans. That means advertisers can eventually target ChatGPT’s 1.2 billion weekly users once ads roll out globally.
But there is a catch. Integrating ads could prove disruptive to the user experience. And perhaps that is partly the point.
Pushing Users Toward Paid Plans
Ads could push more casual users to pay for a subscription in order to avoid them. OpenAI notes that ads will not influence ChatGPT’s answers, but that claim sits awkwardly next to the stated goal of driving users toward paid plans.
The company has not said whether it will let subscribers opt out of ads entirely.
What Comes Next
OpenAI’s ad strategy is expanding fast. The company is moving beyond text ads to visual display ads, building out measurement infrastructure, and testing brand suitability tools with major vendors.
The question is whether users will accept ads in their image results. If enough of them choose paid plans instead, the strategy could backfire.
OpenAI is betting that advertisers will find the audience worth paying for, even if some users leave. Whether that bet pays off depends on how intrusive the ads become and how willing users are to pay to escape them.
Source material: “OpenAI launches visual ads that appear alongside image generation results,” TechCrunch.
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