Brace yourself, ChatGPT fans – an OpenAI leak suggests ads could come to your conversations very soon

• Ads could be heading to ChatGPT in the near future
• Related text has been spotted in the ChatGPT app
• It's not clear how these ads would work or appear

We know that generating stacks of AI text, images, and videos every day isn't cheap, and it looks as though the inevitable is about to happen: according to a fresh rumor, OpenAI is testing adverts in ChatGPT, ahead of a full rollout to users.

As spotted by @btibor91 (via BleepingComputer), the latest ChatGPT for Android app includes hidden code that refers to an "ads feature", some "bazaar content", a "search ad", and a "search ads carousel" – so it's clear what's coming.

What's not certain is when or how OpenAI might decide to introduce adverts into chats, or whether paying for a subscription will be enough to hide them. Based on the style of the current ChatGPT app interface, including the new Shopping Research tool, we'd expect them to be subtle and well-integrated into the current ChatGPT aesthetic.

Indeed, OpenAI has previously gone on the record as saying that ads should be "thoughtful and tasteful", if they have to be used – which they almost certainly do, given the cost of keeping all those GPUs and data centers working.

Ads with your AI

It's really no surprise to see advertising coming to ChatGPT. The move has long been predicted, and would bring the chatbot into line with other AI offerings – it's something Google and Microsoft have already been testing, for example.

If we do have to put up with advertising, it should at least be well targeted and relevant: the AI apps many of us chat to on a daily basis have access to a wealth of information about our likes, dislikes, and interests, and all of that can be tapped into to generate ad links relevant to a user's current prompts and queries.

AI searches are an obvious starting point, because if you're looking for something to buy online, then you might be interested in a sponsored link or two. However, OpenAI will have to make sure advertising content is kept distinct from the usual AI bot responses.

ChatGPT only just turned three years old yesterday on November 30, but its userbase has quickly grown to hundreds of millions of people, and that's a lot of eyeballs that ads could be shown too. There have also been rumors of bumps in subscription prices, though they haven't arrived yet.

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