American artificial intelligence company Anthropic this month attracted applause — and a surge in users — for advertisements poking fun at its competition.
In the commercials, an AI assistant awkwardly breaks away mid-conversation to push products such as shoe insoles and dating services. “Ads are coming to AI,” the Super Bowl-tied spots warned, but not to Anthropic’s chatbot Claude.
The campaign quickly generated buzz because it played to worries that introducing advertising into AI platforms many people now rely on — and confide in — risks blurring the line between helpful advice and paid influence.
But that anxiety, while understandable, overlooks how advertising already works across much of the digital world.
In many ways, ads based on interactions with AI are not a big leap from the targeted advertising that already dominates search engines, social media feeds and e-commerce platforms. If transparent and well-designed, the shift could help people complete tasks faster and keep these tools widely accessible.
This month, OpenAI’s ChatGPT began testing adverts with users in the US. The company says any ads will be clearly labelled, kept separate from answers and accompanied by privacy protections and user controls.
The stakes are high: ChatGPT now has about 800 million weekly users and ranks among the internet’s most visited websites. It has operated largely ad-free since its launch three years ago, and only about 5% of users pay a subscription.
With room to grow, OpenAI has strong incentives to find a sustainable model that protects trust without undermining what made the service popular.
If transparent and optional, advertising could help solve a basic funding problem. In practice, a small paying group cannot carry the full burden indefinitely.
A light, clearly labelled ad model is one way the wider user base could contribute indirectly — much as they already do via television, YouTube, search engines and many news websites.
For everyday ChatGPT users, the main upside of ads is that they can reflect what is needed in the moment rather than what a tracker infers from past browsing.
Traditional digital ads rely on cookies and cross-site tracking to guess people’s interests over time. Contextual advertising, by contrast, targets what is happening in the moment and is often seen as a more privacy-friendly alternative.
OpenAI says ads will be matched to the conversation and may use past chats and ad interactions. Users will be able to dismiss ads, see why they were shown one and delete ad data.
If those controls work as promised, relevance would come from the question being asked rather than tracking across other websites. For consumers, that is convenience.
For advertisers, it is efficiency, because the ad appears at the moment of genuine intent rather than being spread widely across the internet. Another potential benefit is smoother communication. Conversational ads could function more like a shop assistant than a static banner.
None of this removes the risks. Advertisements should not be allowed to change what a trusted AI tool such as ChatGPT recommends. And because ads are being tested with only a small group of users, the full extent of those risks cannot yet be observed or properly assessed.
The Conversation