A report from The Information outlined a number of avenues OpenAI is looking at for ad formats in ChatGPT. The main one that is reportedly being thrown around at the AI company is to show sponsored content within the AI responses given by ChatGPT.
The Information wrote that OpenAI's "AI models could prioritize sponsored content to ensure it shows up in ChatGPT responses." ChatGPT could give "sponsored information preferential treatment in responses to users' ChatGPT queries."
"In recent weeks, ad mockups have included displaying sponsored information in a sidebar to the main ChatGPT response window, according to the person who has seen them. Employees have also discussed showing a disclosure saying that the results include sponsored results, said the person familiar with the discussions," it goes on to say.
Another option is to not show the ad or sponsored content immediately but later on in the conversation. The Information wrote, "ads that show up only once a user's conversation has progressed in a certain direction. One ad mockup showed display ads as a secondary step in ChatGPT once a user has expressed interest in finding more information rather than in the initial ChatGPT response, said the person who saw the mockup."
"As ChatGPT becomes more capable and widely used, we're looking at ways to continue offering more intelligence to everyone. As part of this, we're exploring what ads in our product could look like. People have a trusted relationship with ChatGPT, and any approach would be designed to respect that trust," said an OpenAI spokesperson told The Information.
Glenn Gabe wrote on X, "Yep, here come the ads and maybe *new* types of ads? Like giving "preferential treatment" to sponsored parts of the answer? Oof..."
Truth is, we really don't know what ads we might see on ChatGPT. I am not sure sponsored content is the best approach. I guess time will tell.
Forum discussion at X.
