ChatGPT Ads Are Coming, and They’ll Change Targeting Forever

Ads Are Coming to ChatGPT

ChatGPT has announced a new tier called Go. In the list of features, you’ll notice something odd: a tiny disclaimer that reads “This plan may include ads” with a link to learn more.

They’re coming… Ads are now being tested in the US. These tests aren’t aimed at identifying whether it’s something to do; their focus is on finding the right way to do it. That makes it an inevitability.

Ads are already being integrated into their offers on the Free and newly formed Go tiers. They’re not live yet and are only visible to testers.

How CHATGPT plans to incorporate Ads

Ads will respond to conversations. If you’re chatting about recipes for a Steak dinner, you might get an ad for A1 sauce.

OpenAI clearly states that ChatGPT will not sell access to user conversations or data to advertisers. The reality is that it doesn’t need to, because the conversation itself is the targeting signal.

Right now, ads are targeted based on guesses and assumptions. If you’re watching sports, you may be in the market for athletic wear. If you’ve researched “how to heal a cavity naturally,” you might get ads for holistic health.

The ads shown are largely based on the presumed interest of the user and the topic of the content. Broadly targeted ads may only consider age, gender, and location. Things like mental state, specificity, and urgency can’t be accounted for.

A Google search for “How to Make a Steak Dinner” doesn’t know if you plan to make dinner that night, if you’re cooking for one person or eight, or if you’re a skilled cooker or a novice.

Chats are conversational. Someone might say to ChatGPT

“My in-laws are coming over. I need steak dinner ideas.”

And it might ask follow-up questions like

• How many people are being served?
• Are there any allergies?
• How done do you like your steak?
• How much time do you have?

It will know the mental state, urgency, and be able to serve results with a level of unparalleled specificity.

Additionally, ChatGPT keeps a memory of previous chats, which adds historical context to results.

Interactive ads

Messaging is planned to be enabled on ad,s allowing users to ask questions about products. Businesses will be able to address concerns and ease fears, which can dramatically increase conversions.

As a consumer, I’m concerned. Even if data isn’t being directly fed to advertisers, it’s being harnessed to select effective ads. That means you’re paying to be a product - especially on the Free tier. Beyond that, I’m not very concerned. I’ve heard people express fears of the focus moving from being a pass-through platform like Google, where you ask a question, get an answer, and move on, to a destination platform like Facebook. Destination platforms are optimized to keep users there, where they can continuously be served ads. Features like ChatGPT Group chat do appear to lean into those fears, but the mixed model is what relaxes me. Unlike Facebook, people pay for ChatGPT, and there are specific purposes for it, where if it fails to deliver, people cancel. It doesn’t have the same incentive as Facebook.

As a marketer, I’m salivating. The potential of the integration of ads is mind-blowing. The level of precision that can be executed when it comes to targeting will be like nothing we’ve ever seen. Right now, privacy concerns and the solutions aimed at relieving those concerns are resulting in major challenges for marketers. The iPhone allows users to “Ask app to not track.” Safari provides a number of tools to block ads and all tracking information. Alphabet is following behind Apple, and just about every Browser is putting privacy first. People don’t want data being collected and sold to advertisers about their online activity. Ads on ChatGPT open the door to a happy medium. It’s like a friend who knows you recommending a jacket vs. someone following you around, spying on your shopping behavior, and popping out of bushes at random times with a jacket they think you’d like. I’m excited to see things unfold- even though I know this is a step toward Minority Report-style store recommendations based on retina scans.